Battle of Wits
by Ami Vurbo
Summary: Princess Kinomoto Sakura and Prince Li Xiao Lang are two very head strong leaders. When their countries are at war, will they sit back and watch it all happen? Not even for a moment! Soon their minds aren't about surviving the war but each other. *EDITED*
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: Hey guys, another CCS fanfic for you all to enjoy! Hopefully you guys like my new twist and will R&R soon! Umm, that's really all I've got to say, so on with the disclaimer and then the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS. However, I do own Ronin… sigh, such a hunk, but not as cute as Syaoran….

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**Battle of Wits: Chapter One**

Kinomoto Kingdom

The princess looked out her balcony. The peacefulness she saw was just a mirage, she new what was really happening on the land around her.

Her country was at war with the neighboring kingdom and here she sat, doing nothing. Sure, she was a Princess, and Princesses were not allowed to fight, but she desperately wanted to help. Her older brother, Touya, had left to the field with her father only a few days ago and how she wished to know if they were all right. She sighed wistfully out the window. Then she heard a knock from outside her door.

"Come in," she called.

"Princess Sakura. Are you only to sit here all day?" someone said coming towards her. The Princess turned to her new companion a girl, with brown hair into two pigtails.

"Chiharu, how many times must I tell you to just call me Sakura," she answered the girl. Chiharu smiled.

"At least a thousand times, but it is unheard of for a maid to call royalty anything but by their titles." She explained, cleaning the room. Sakura sighed and got up from her windowsill.

"Fine dear Chiharu, do as you wish, I do not want to quarrel today." Chiharu looked up from making the bed. It was not like the Princess to give up any fight so easily. She walked over and put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"You worry for your brother's safety," she said. Sakura looked up in surprise. "I've known you since we were little, you can't hide your emotions from me easily." She smiled. "I know what will make you feel better. The knowledge of you're cousin Lady Daidouji's arrival?" she hinted. Sakura brightened up.

"Tomoyo is coming? When?" the princess asked excitedly. Chiharu nodded.

"Not long from now. In about 2 days." Sakura smiled. She had not seen her cousin Lady Daidouji in a long time. Before the war even started. Chiharu stood up and lead Sakura to the door.

"Now, I suggest a meeting with Yamasaki, don't worry, I will not tell anyone of this meeting." She added.

"Should I give him any messages?" Sakura asked slyly. Chiharu blushed.

"No, thank you." she said as she closed the door.

Sakura walked swiftly through the many hallways, finally reaching the outside. She walked through the grass with her skirt held high toward one of the little huts, containing the servant boys. She went to the third one and knocked on the door. It opened.

"Princess!" a voice said as the owner knelt down. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Yes, it is I. Is Yamasaki in?" she asked pulling the boy to his feet.

"Umm, y-yes. H-hold on a m-minute," he said going inside. A few minutes later a smiling boy with short black hair appeared.

"Ahhh, Princess Sakura. Why such a pleasure?" he asked.

"Yamasaki, I just had this conversation with Chiharu," his head perked up at the mention of her name. Sakura smirked. "Please, just Sakura. You do it when we spar, why not now!" Yamasaki smiled as he pulled the door closed behind him.

"I just say your given name when we spar because it takes to long to say your title. However it is rude to not say it, for I am just a commoner. And we are not really allowed to spar anyway."

"Yamasaki, you know I do not believe in the whole commoner/ royalty thing." She said as they walked in a general direction. Yamasaki ignored the comment and turned to her, looking silent.

"Our sparring days are coming to an end." He told her.

"What? You and Ronin have been teaching me in hiding since I could hold a sword! Why stop now?" she asked incredulously. He took her hands in his.

"You know that I am a soldier and train men to become ones, that is what me and Ronin do. Well, it is time of war, and we will soon be called to battle." He said sadly. Sakura stared.

"But what of Chiharu? Will you just leave her, maybe to never come back? What about me?" she asked.

"It is not my decision but the king's." He answered. "Ronin had already been called."

"What!?" Sakura yelled. Yamasaki smiled sadly.

"You have not come to see us in awhile. It is not your fault princesses have duties, Ronin left with the Prince, your brother." Sakura stood there and stared, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, but she would not cry in front of Yamasaki. She looked back up at him.

"I feel so useless, all I do is sit and wonder while the men fight for us. I wish I could go with you." Yamasaki looked stern, he was only a year older, but she respected him more than that.

"Sakura, the battle field is no place for a princess, even you."

"But you and Ronin, the best fighters in the Kingdom, have taught me practically all the styles of fighting there is!" he went to interrupt her but she kept talking. "… Since I was little too! And, I've mastered most of them! I'm even better than you," he gave her a look. "Well, almost better than you!"

"You're just saying all this to comfort yourself. But the fact still remains, you're a princess. Now, neither Ronin or me have ever said that you being a girl makes a difference. Heck, we've been going against your father and trained you behind his back, and you've become more powerful than most of the boys here. But, you are a princess, which means you are a girl, and the battle field is no place for you." he explained. Sakura's lip trembled. Yamasaki sighed.

"Hey, lets go have our last practice. You can even choose the weapon and style." Sakura's eyes glittered as she tried to focus on the matter at hand: beating Yamasaki.

"Now, lets get changed."

.

Li Kingdom

"I should be on the battle field, protecting my kingdom, not here, studying!" a man cried.

"Calm down my son. You're place is here, protecting the palace if need be." His mother soothed.

"I want to fight like my father!" he said. The woman rounded on him.

"Your father died in battle Xiao Lang! Do you want to die like him?! I am protecting you!" she yelled. The boy looked down in shame.

"I am sorry mama. You can find me in my study." He said as he walked off. His mother sighed.

"He is getting more like you every day," she said to the air.

.

Xiao Lang stalked off to his study. Study, if that's what you call it. He did study in it, he studied martial arts. There he found his trusty punching bag and well, punched it.

"If you concentrate hard enough, you can see your opponent's face in the bag." Xiao Lang scowled.

"And if you concentrate hard enough, you might think to knock!" he said, kicking the bag. The other voice laughed as the owner moved closer.

"Nice to see you too, little cousin." He said.

"Eriol," Xiao Lang acknowledged.

"Been stuck here to long?" Eriol asked.

"Mama, won't let me fight. She says it's to protect me." He answered. Eriol rolled his eyes.

"Maybe that's because you're the only heir to the Li thrown!" he said sarcastically. "And, I might add, you have had no forward progress on building a line."

"There is no one that suits me." Xiao Lang answered plainly.

"She has to meet a very hard standard. Has to fight, take care of her self, something not many Princesses can do." Xiao Lang glared but stopped fighting.

"So, what are you doing here?" Xiao Lang asked getting a towel from the rack and wiping the sweat from his brow. Eriol shrugged.

"I need a reason to visit my favorite cousin?"

"Yes. Usually."

"Oh. Well, then I guess I am here to keep you company and perhaps fight." Xiao Lang turned to Eriol.

"You get to fight?!" he yelled. Eriol nodded.

"Maybe, it depends on how the war turns," he answered.

"But, that's not fair! I am the better fighter and you get to fight while I sit here and listen to my mother talk about suitable princesses." He exclaimed exasperated. Eriol chuckled. "Its not funny!" Xiao Lang yelled. Eriol straightened himself.

"Of course not. I've just never seen Prince Xiao Lang whine so much." That earned Eriol a famous death glare from the youngest Li.

.

Kinomoto Kingdom

Sakura blocked Yamasaki's upper blow with her sword as she aimed a kick for his stomach, she hit her mark and it sent him reeling backwards. This gave her time to reset herself in a different stance. Yamasaki smiled and put down his sword.

"Alright you win, but remember, I won yesterday." He said as they put their swords on the weapons rack.

"Yes, but my head was not into the fight." She answered.

"Your head must always be in the fight," Yamasaki said. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You're starting to sound like Ronin," she accused. He looked at her in mock shock.

"Oh no, I am!" they laughed.

Sakura got changed back into her dress, her formal princess clothes, so no one would know she was practicing. The only ones who knew were Chiharu, Tomoyo, Yamasaki, her teacher Ronin, Nakoto and Rika two other maids. They had been keeping it a secret since Sakura was really young, about 4.

When she got back to her room she found that Chiharu was gone and had pretty much cleaned her whole room. She had just laid down to rest when she heard a knock at her door. She sighed and yelled out that she was coming. She got up and opened the door and smiled. It was her good friend Nakoto, who was also the messenger for inside the palace walls.

"Greetings Princess Sakura," she started. Sakura didn't even try to correct her, she was done for the day. "I have a message from your mother. You are to meet her in her drawing room, as soon as you can," she announced. Sakura's shoulders shrugged.

"Alright, I'll be there," she answered. Nakoto didn't leave. "What?" Sakura asked.

"_Now_, Princess Sakura." She said. Sakura sighed, she seemed to be doing that a lot.

"Alright, I will. Let me get dressed will you?" she said sarcastically. Nakoto left. Sakura immediately felt bad. She didn't mean to snap at her friend, she guessed the weight of war was affecting everyone. She changed into a plain purple form-fitting dress and put on her "game face" as she left for her mothers room.

Everyone had always said that Sakura took after her mother, Queen Nadeshiko. Sakura always hated being compared to her mother. Sometimes it was nice, but Sakura wanted to be her own person, and she didn't like crowds. When she was compared, it was all about her and expectations. Sometimes it felt like her mother was perfect, and that she should be too. And the problem is, is that she didn't want to be the type of princess or queen, that sat around doing nothing, but that's how they wanted her to be. She even wished she were a prince, a boy, instead, but she had gotten into a lot of trouble at that suggestion. When she finally reached her mothers room she was prepared for whatever they talked about. She knocked and heard a graceful "come in." so she did. She found her mother sitting in a chair toward the window sewing. The queen looked up and smiled at the sight of her daughter.

"Ahhh, Sakura. How are you?" she asked standing and giving her daughter a hug.

"The same as I was yesterday," Sakura said. Nadeshiko frowned.

"Sakura, what is wrong? You are not happy to see me?" she said pulling away.

"No, of course I am happy to see you mother. I just wish, why does Touya have to fight? Why can only Princes fight? Why not princesses?" she asked. Nadeshiko's frown drew heavier.

"Sakura, we have had this conversation before, Princesses are not meant to fight. We are better than that. We stay home, where we are safe. Speaking about being a princess," she began. Sakura hated this conversation. "The reason I called you here is about marriage. You are 18 years old, most princesses have married by 16, and yet you do not even have a suitor." Her mother sighed. "Sakura, I want to have grandchildren, and the kingdom must grow." She said taking her daughters hand.

"Well, what about Touya? Why not pester him? He is after all the heir to the thrown," Sakura answered somewhat sarcastically.

"Touya is currently out to battle, he does not have time to be worrying about courting."

"Exactly!" Sakura yelled. "Neither should we! We should be worrying about the war, not our loves lives!"

"Do not yell at me Sakura! If we loose the war and the men in the family die, we shall be the only ones left, and if we have no children the lineage will die!" she said, voice semi-raised.

"I will marry," Sakura said standing straighter. "When I find someone I love." The queen sighed.

"It might have to be sooner dear Sakura."

"You should talk, you and father fell in love and married all by yourselves." She said. Nadeshiko could not answer to that for she knew her daughter was right. Sakura hearing her mother's silence walked out of the room. Sakura walked down the hallway until she was completely out of range from her mother. Then she turned a corner and leaned against the wall, then let out a breath. She hated talking about marriage. Her mother and father had had her meet with most of the neighboring kingdom's Princes. She had scared them all off, obviously not liking any of them. They had all treated her like a prize.

"I need to spar," she said to herself walking towards the servants' cabins.

When she got there she was about to knock on Yamasaki's door when she noticed it was cracked open and she heard crying. She listened.

"Oh, Yamasaki, do not go!" it was Chiharu and she was crying.

"There, there Chiharu. You know I have to, King and kingdom's orders," he tried to comfort her.

"Oh, forget the orders, I don't want to loose you," she cried again. Sakura felt tears come to her own eyes.

"You won't loose me, I'll be back before you know it." He answered her.

"Promise?" came Chiharu's small voice. Yamasaki didn't answer and Sakura left before he did, she didn't want to know the answer. She ran up to her room, praying for everyone's safety.

.

Li Kingdom

"You leave tomorrow Eriol?" Xiao Lang asked the blue haired man.

"Yes. It's hard to think that I'm only 18 and already going to battle," he said looking out the window. Xiao Lang silently agreed. "What started this war anyway?" Xiao Lang shrugged.

"I'm not sure, probably land or something." Eriol looked at him with shock.

"You mean to say that you are the prince and don't know why your kingdom is at war?" Xiao Lang growled.

"Mother said not knowing would protect me, no one will tell me. I hate it, just like I hate not fighting." Eriol was sympathic toward his cousin, but would not show it.

Next Day

"So you're leaving?" Xiao Lang asked as he watched Eriol get into his armor.

"Yes, I fight for the Li Kingdom," Eriol said solemnly. Xiao Lang's features shared a look of loss, sorrow and jealousy.

"So I found out why you are at war," Eriol said walking over to him. "You were right, it was over land, the Kinomoto's wouldn't cooperate, but you landed the first blow. Sounds like the Li kingdom to me," Eriol joked. Xiao Lang of course, scowled. Suddenly they heard a bell. Eriol sighed.

"Well, that's my call."

"Funny how you fight for someone else's country when the prince does not fight." He said ironically. Eriol made the move to leave, but Xiao Lang stopped him and put his hand out, Eriol grasped it and they shook hands.

"Good luck," Xiao Lang said. Eriol nodded and left. As soon as Eriol left Xiao Lang stalked up to his mother's room.

"Mother," he said as he barged through the doors. "I want to fight for my kingdom!" Yelan Li looked up from her book.

"No," she said plainly. Xiao Lang looked disbelieving.

"What!? Why can my friend from a different kingdom come and fight for us, and yet the Prince cannot!?" he yelled. Yelan stood up.

"I will NOT loose another person I love!" she yelled. Xiao Lang didn't care, he wanted to fight.

"You cannot keep me from protecting my country!" he yelled as he stormed out.

.

Kinomoto Kingdom

Sakura paced nervously in the hallway outside her bedroom, Tomoyo was supposed to come today. She also paced in worry about her brother and father, not to mention the rest of her kingdom. Then she heard a girly shriek.

"Sakura!" the princess turned right before a big black blob jumped on her, knocking her over.

"Tomoyo!" she yelled back. They helped each other up. "I haven't seen you forever!"

"I know! It's been too long, especially with the war and all," Tomoyo answered. Sakura's face fell. Tomoyo put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's talk about that later, now is only for smiles and giggles!" she said. She stopped to look at her friend.

"You've grown your hair out," she said looking at Sakura's back length soft brown hair.

"And you've kept it the same," she said admiring Tomoyo's long, black, curly hair.

"Come on, lets go talk!" they walked into Sakura's room and discussed the usual things: Tomoyo's love life, Sakura's non-existent one, other peoples, the newest fashions (Tomoyo did all the talking) and more. Suddenly, the door slammed open. It was Nakoto.

"You're brother and father are back! And you're brother is injured!" she said. Sakura and Tomoyo got up at once and raced out the door. Sakura was way faster than Tomoyo and got to the front gate first. She saw her father's horse, but it was carrying not only her father, but another as well. There was another rider besides them. She ran out holding her skirt at a full sprint toward the riders. She found the other rider to be Ronin. She looked at him and their eyes locked, he nodded. She tore her eyes from his and turned to her family. Touya was sitting in front of her father, head slumped forward. She saw that he was still wearing full armor, but blood was gushing from a wound to his shoulder.

"We need a doctor!!!" Ronin yelled. Sakura hurried to keep in step with the horses as people rushed past, either staying out of the way or trying to help.

"What happened?" Sakura huffed.

"He got stabbed by the commander of the Li army. Managed to kill him though," Ronin said.

"Is it deep?" Sakura asked, trying to get a better look at the wound. Blood had never affected Sakura, and right now she was glad. She was really worried about her brother. Ronin carried Touya through out the castle behind her father, and she behind Ronin. After twisting and turning they reached the medical wing were Touya was placed on a bed. Right after a doctor and healer came in. Touya was sweating now.

"He has a fever," the doctor said as he and a few others removed the armor. Touya made a noise that resembled a howl as they removed the blood crusted armor. Sakura felt Tomoyo shutter beside her as she herself cringed. When the armor was off the doctor immediately reacted.

"The wound is still bleeding, hurry, someone get some rags." He yelled and a few maids ran out of the room. Sakura took this as an opportunity to go to her brother. She darted around the doctors so not to get in the way toward her brother. When she got to him, she took his hand in hers.

"Hey, it's me, the squirt," she whispered. He turned his head toward her.

"Hey," he whispered back then groaned as the doctor applied something to the wound.

"You know you're gonna be alright." She stated. Touya smiled.

"My sister, she thinks she's always right," he managed to croak. Sakura frowned.

"Of course I'm right. You're gonna make it through this," she demanded.

"I guess I don't have a choice in the matter now," Touya joked.

"Of course you don't have a choice!" Sakura yelled. She felt a hand on her back and turned. It was Ronin.

"It's best we leave the doctors to do their work," he said softly. She turned back to her brother.

"I'll be ok. Remember I don't have the choice not to," he managed a wink and Sakura was lead away. As she left she saw her mother watching from afar.

Ronin lead her to the hall.

"I'm sorry I could not prevent this," he apologized. Sakura turned to him.

"It wasn't your fault! How could anyone blame you? You're _my _protector not his, you were busy with your own battle," she said taking his hands in her. He looked at her with deep blue eyes with emotion that everyone, save for Sakura, could find. Love.

Ronin was three years older than Sakura, the age of 21, and the King's "right hand man." The age difference didn't stop them from falling in love. When Sakura was 16 and he 19, while he was teaching her to fight, they had realized that they were more than friends. The King had found out and had frowned upon them, but for a while that didn't stop them. Only a few months ago had they realized that it would never really work. Now they loved each other as siblings.

"You're right," he finally said and Sakura beamed back at him.

"Sakura." She heard a voice which she turned to. It was her mother and she was giving her the "I told you so" look. Sakura thought back to the conversation they had had earlier. Her mother was now stressing her to bear an heir now that her brother was wounded. Ronin looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Mother wants me to get married, and now she's pressuring me because Touya's wounded," she explained walked toward her room. Ronin walked with her.

"Get married when you find the right one, don't let the problems of your parents pressure you." he told her as they reached her door. She opened it, but turned to him.

"But she is right, I must do it soon." She gave him a sad look and went into her room. When the door was closed she balled her hand into a fist and said determinedly,

"There must me something I can do!"

.

Li Kingdom

On the way to storming off to his room Xiao Lang had heard of the Kinomoto Prince's fall and of the fall of their very own Commander. Xiao Lang would miss the old man, but his focus was on Eriol. Sure, he could take care of himself, but since he wasn't fighting (he inwardly growled) he didn't know how good the Kinomoto fighters were. He hated going against his mothers wishes, but she was not thinking of others on this one, she was being selfish. Xiao Lang stopped. But she did have a point: he was the only son to the widowed Queen of the Li Kingdom, the only man left. If he didn't marry and/or produce an heir, the Li line would end. He growled, scaring a nearby maid. When he reached his room he let all of his anger and frustration out. He threw everything from pillows to hard things across the room and shattering and hitting against the walls.

'I wish Eriol were here, he'd know what to do,' he found himself thinking. Another breakable thing hit the wall. 'I can't believe I just thought that!!! Ugh!'

"To fight or not to fight. Is that you're question?" he heard a voice say. He whirled around to see his other cousin Melin.

"Ya, that's just about it. How'd you know?" he said sitting down on the bed.

"You're mother talked to me about reconsidering an engagement," she answered sitting next to him.

Melin and Xiao Lang had been engaged since they were born. A powerful union between two halves of the family. They had gown up as friends not knowing their future, till one day when they were 14 they found out they were to be married. They took it considerably well, pretty much fine with the notion since they were friends and Xiao Lang hated all other females. But when they were 16 Xiao Lang had found himself loving Melin only as a sister and Melin had fallen in love with the Prince of the Kyoko Kingdom. After a few months of Melin's secret romance and Xiao Lang's brotherly love the two had called their families together to break the news. That day they had broke off the engagement. At first the grown-ups were really angry with the news, then Melin's family had agreed with the love of the Kyoko Prince. Xiao Lang's mother had never quite forgiven him since he had not found another love.

"When did you arrive?" Xiao Lang asked as he watched Melin pick up the pillows from the floor.

"Not too long ago, I saw Eriol off," she answered sitting down next to him.

"Why are you here?" Xiao Lang questioned again.

"What not happy to see you're best friend?" she inquired, but cut him off when he was about to apologize. She sighed before she continued. "Me and Saburo were supposed to get married next week, but he was called off to help you," Xiao Lang looked up in surprise.

"You're getting married now?! Aren't you only 18 years…old…" he trailed off. Meling smiled.

"Yes, I am 18 years old, 16 is usually the age in which people are married Xiao Lang." She answered. It dawned on Xiao Lang like the morning sun. He really was 2 years past marrying age, that's why his mother was bugging him so much. He focused on the second bit of information she had given him.

"Wait. Why is Saburo fighting for us?" he asked. Melin was putting back together the knocked over vase.

"The Li Kingdom needed backups and since I am linked to the Kyoko Kingdom, your mother asked for us," she explained again.

"I'm sorry," Xiao Lang said softly. Melin froze.

"What? The great Li Xiao Lang apologizing?" she teased. Xiao Lang, of course, growled.

"Hey, I feel like everything is my fault," he said looking out the window. "Mom won't let me fight, so your loved one does." He sighed. Melin came and put an arm around him.

"Hey, no one blames you, you're the only male left in the direct line of the Li family. We have to protect you," she said. Xiao Lang stood up.

"No! I should be protecting my kingdom!" he yelled.

"Then go," Melin whispered.

"What?" Xiao Lang asked unbelievingly.

"Go, do what you think is best," she said a little louder.

"Are you kidding? What about the rest of the Li line?" Melin shrugged.

"I don't know. But I'm sure you'll figure it out," she said walking out the door to let her cousin think.

And think is exactly what he did. And by the time he was done thinking he knew his mother was not going to like his verdict.

It was night when Xiao Lang stuck his head out of his room looking for anyone coming or going. He stealthily ran to the weapon room hidden by the shadows. In the weapon room he found his fathers armor chest and opened it. He regally put the contents on that were inside. When he was done he left for the stables. As he was mounting his horse he saw a light flicker from a candle from on the other side of the room.

"Xiao Lang!!!" a voice yelled. He turned as his horse trotted away. It was his mother.

"I'm sorry mama," he whispered as he galloped away.

"XIAO LANG!!!" a cry hit the air.

.

Kinomoto Kingdom

Tomoyo could hear her friend tossing and turning all night. She didn't dare wake her friend or go see if everything was all right. Sakura would automatically apologize for keeping her up. But it wasn't the only thing keeping her up. Tomoyo was worried about what was going on in the Princess' head. She was worried Sakura would do something drastic to help her country. Something a little too drastic. So when Sakura suddenly sat up in bed, Tomoyo pretended to be asleep. After she heard the door shut, Sakura being on the other side, Tomoyo got up and followed her friend. Sakura and Tomoyo crept through the night. Tomoyo had no idea where they were headed but she followed anyway. Pretty soon she recognized her surroundings, they were in the medical wing. Tomoyo hid behind a corner as Sakura checked to see if anyone was around before going into Touya's room, when she was out of sight Tomoyo crept to hear better to the door. Touya seemed to be asleep as Sakura took his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry Touya, that you are hurt. I am also sorry for my leaving."

'Leaving?' Tomoyo thought.

"I must save my kingdom, I feel as though I am doing nothing, and I will not let my gender get in the way of that. You see I have to go. Don't worry I'll be all right. Take care of mother." She got up and walked towards the door. A look of utter surprise crossed her face when she found Tomoyo standing in front of her.

"I'm coming with you," Tomoyo said.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you. I may not be able to fight but I can still help," Tomoyo stood straight. Sakura wanted companionship, but she didn't want to place Tomoyo in danger, but she also couldn't change Tomoyo's mind.

"Tomoyo, you're my friend and I don't want you to get hurt,' Tomoyo's face was still determined. Sakura sighed. "But I know I can't change you're mind on this." She finished. Tomoyo immediately lit up and clasped her hands together.

"Oh this is so great! On another adventure with the beautiful Princess Sakura!" she said with stars in her eyes.

"Tomoyo, we're going to the battlefield," Sakura sweatdropped. Tomoyo waved her off.

"I know, I know," Sakura sweatdropped again.

It was early in the morning when Sakura and Tomoyo snuck out of Sakura's room with all the supplies they would need and the sun was barely up when they rode off on their two horses.

.

.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Hey all! It's been forever I know. Sorry. I hope you will all forgive me. Especially with this pretty long chapter! So, I don't have anything really to say yet, just hope you enjoy chapter deux!

Disclaimer: Same as always. I don't own CCS.

.

**Chapter Two**

Xiao Lang

His entire life he had never been lonely but now that he rode in the dessert all alone, he wished he had brought someone, anyone. He sighed. It was going to be a long ride. Actually, the battle wasn't anywhere near either one of the fighting kingdom's lands. It would take about two days to get there. The sun was already declining, he had been riding all day. Soon he would have to stop and rest for the night.

He lit a fire beneath a nearby tree and sat down for the night, his horse beside him, tied to the tree. As he sat beneath the stars he finally had time to think. He realized that Meling had talked him into a very rash decision. Yes he was a good fighter, but he had no experience in war, he had no idea what to experience on the battlefield. He sighed and pet his horse.

.

Sakura and Tomoyo

Sakura had woken up early the next morning to find it very chilly. Fall was barely setting in and already she was cold, even with her thick wool blanket. She had also woken up to Tomoyo making breakfast and the sun wasn't even quite up.

"Why up so early Tomoyo?" Sakura questioned, scooting closer to her friend and wrapping the blanket around her tightly. Tomoyo shrugged, but then got a glint in her eyes.

"Nothing, besides making lovely Sakura's battle outfit!" she squealed, pulling out some fabric from her sattle bag. Sakura sweatdropped.

"Tomoyo, what do you think you're doing? You mean you really brought fabric with you?" she asked. Tomoyo stopped smiling and looked stern, it was short lived.

"It's not fabric anymore Sakura, it's an unfinished outfit. I'm making you an outfit so that you can comfortably fight, but still look good." She winked.

"I would fight in nothing just to fight," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What?" Tomoyo asked in a singsong voice.

"Nothing!" Sakura yelled back.

Sakura figured that they would reach the battle by late that night, and they would catch up on their rest and then she would leave Tomoyo to help her country. She chewed her lip, by now her mother, father, brother and Ronin would know of her disappearance. She wondered how they would react. She knew her mother would worry, but her main focus would be on the lineage. Her father would be outraged and probably come and get her as soon as possible. Her brother would be worried, so worried as too forget about his own health and want to chase after her. And Ronin. Ronin would waste no second to chase after her and protect her. Sakura frowned, he would also have to tell her parents about their secret training.

All because of her love for the country. But was that it? Maybe she just wanted to prove that woman could fight too. Had her selfishness ruined everything? Now she was starting to doubt her actions. Too late to go back. They ate breakfast and got ready to go.

.

Li Kingdom

As soon as Queen Yelan saw her son gallop away she was pissed off. She stormed into her room and did what her son had done hours before: she broke things. Water hit the thin paper walls as vases broke and half the castle woke up. When she was done she took a deep breath and stalked off to her niece's room. When she reached the room she banged down the door, scaring Melin awake.

"What did you say to him?" the Queen screamed. Melin, half awake, just opened and closed her mouth with a confused stare.

"I-I…." She started to say, but Yelan cut her off closing her eyes.

"Never mind. I don't care what you told my son, I want you to go and get him." She said angrily.

"What?!" Melin said, now wide awake.

"I want you to go and get Prince Xiao Lang back. I will not have my son and husband die on the battle field. Understand?" Melin just starred at the ruler. "I will have a horse ready for you as soon as possible. Don't waste time asking anyone to go with you. Just go and get him back." Yelan said quietly, walking out the door.

Melin groaned. The queen had gone mad at the loss of her son. It was Xiao Lang's place, there, on the field. But Melin could not defy the orders of the queen. She would have to leave, but somehow not find Xiao Lang. She looked up at the moon, high in the sky and plopped back down on the bed. She would start tomorrow.

.

Kinomoto Kingdom

Touya woke from his sleep to find Ronin at his side. He cleared the sleep from his eyes to find Ronin fully dressed and a worried look on his face.

"Hey," Touya managed to say. Ronin looked over to the Prince a little startled.

"Hey. I did not think you would wake so early. How are you feeling?" Ronin answered. Touya noticed the worry in the fighters eyes and realized that it was not for him.

"Actually," he said after a while. "I'm feeling much better, what ever the doctors did really helped." He tried to sit up, but struggled. Ronin helped him. Touya looked out the window and broke the silence. "I had a dream that Sakura came to visit me last night." Ronin looked over sharply at the Princes words, unseen by the prince. "She told me that she wanted to protect me." He looked over to Ronin and saw the emotion in his eyes. "What is it Ronin?" he asked. Ronin gave him a small, sad, smile.

"Sakura is missing, along with Miss Daidouji. It seems she left to the battle to protect you and her kingdom. Its so much like Sakura," he said. Touya stared.

"How can you be so calm!? My little sister is going into battle and all you do is smile?! What is wrong with you, her protector? She'll be killed in an instant!" Touya screamed as he tried to get out of bed to go after the Princess.

"Touya calm down."

"Calm down?! How can I calm down?!" Ronin put a hand on the Prince's shoulder.

"I am as worried as you are. You know I love Sakura, maybe even more that just a sister, and it is also my duty to protect her. I am leaving as soon as my horse is prepared. But," he paused. "There is something you do not know." He looked down at Touya and sighed. "We have kept this secret since, forever. Sakura has been training in swordplay and martial arts, as well as various other weapons, since she was four." He laughed. "She is almost even better than me. So you see, until I get there, she can fend for herself." Sakura's brother sat there in shock.

"How could she have kept something from me?" he whispered. Ronin squeezed his good shoulder.

"You would have stopped her, and that is not what she wanted." Suddenly the door opened and someone stepped in, it was Nakoto.

"Sir Ronin, your horse is ready to go," she said and then left. Ronin stood to go and get their Princess back when something stopped him. It was Touya.

"Ronin, please, go bring back my sister safely." Ronin nodded then left.

.

Xiao Lang

Sweat dripped down the young prince's face as he dodged a upper blow from his opponent's sword. Then after a rally of clashing weapons, he struck the fighter down. He took a deep breath and looked around. Then he spotted a blue haired worrier in trouble. He ran towards his comrade, but was slowed down by the numerous enemies blocking his way. He finally struck down the man from behind and blocked his friend's blind hit.

"Whoa there. You don't want to kill the only remaining Li man." Xiao Lang teased.

"Xiao Lang? What are you doing here?" Eriol asked.

"Saving your butt apparently." He answered before striking another man down. Then he noticed Eriol's limp and found blood coming from a leg wound.

"When did that happen?" he asked. After slaying another man Eriol answered.

"Not long ago, it's nothing to worry about, don't worry." He said, but grimaced when weight was put on it.

"That looks pretty serious. I'll lead you out of the battle, follow me. Then I'll heal it up when were out of range." Eriol was about to protest but Xiao Lang had already begun to clear a pathway for them.

"Cousin," Eriol started as they fought their way through the battle, "what are you doing here?"

"Melin and I had a chat." Xiao Lang said as though killing these people were an everyday job. "And I ran off a few nights ago. I'll tell you the rest later, we're a bit distracted."

.

Sakura and Tomoyo

"There it is," Sakura whispered as she looked down upon the battle from her cliff. She took a deep breath as the wind blew from behind her. It would be about a little less than an hour ride. The princess was in deep though when Tomoyo cried out.

"Tada! It's all finished!" she said proudly holding it up for Sakura to see. When Sakura turned to see the creation she was awed.

"It's beautiful Tomoyo. Should I really go into battle with it? I'm afraid it might get ruined." Tomoyo shrugged, the smile never leaving her face.

"It's ok Sakura, I've memorized the pattern. It's cheap material, really only meant to let you move and the armor I can always just fix."

"Where in the world did you get this armor?" she said walking up to it.

"I found it somewhere in your castle. I think it belonged to someone in your family." After a silence fell over the two, Tomoyo told Sakura to put it on. When Sakura emerged she was transformed.

The princess wore a tight light red shirt that went to about mid stomach. She wore pants that fit very loosely around her legs so that she had tons of mobility, the same color as her shirt. Just those two aspects of the outfit were very outrageous. Imagine a girl showing her stomach, and wearing pants! On top of that Sakura wore protective armor that Tomoyo had modified to fit a girl, but not give away her gender. It was a black breast plate with shoulder "pads" coming out into a point 2 inches from her shoulder. The breast plate had two parts: one that covered her chest and the other that protected her stomach. On her waist she wore a short skirt that wouldn't have covered anything, but she was wearing pants. You couldn't tell it was a skirt, because she had strapped on leg armor on her thighs and shins. (A/N: just think of a black samurai outfit) Her long hair was up in a high bun and a thin strip of red material was tied around her forehead with the Kinomoto emblem, a lion beast, was printed in the center. Strapped to her back was Sakura's favorite weapon. Her sword, Ronin had made it for her on her 15 birthday, very special with an engraving on the hilt that said "Love is the greatest weapon." It was designed for her and her only. She had brought a few other weapons with her and added two knives attached to her legs. When they were done "oh-ing and aw-ing" over Sakura's outfit Sakura grew serious.

"Tomoyo, I let you come this far, but I will not let you fight. Even if I have to force my rank upon you." Sakura knew that she was glad to have her cousin along, but the battle field was no place for her. Tomoyo had no fight training at all, just like a Princess should. Tomoyo smiled, but it was a serious one.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of following you farther than this. I shall wait here and watch and if you need rescuing I will come." Sakura nodded and jumped up onto the back of her white stallion.

"I'll be back Tomoyo," the 18 year old princess said.

"You'd better, of your father will kill me," Tomoyo joked. But inside she was worried. She hadn't stopped Sakura thinking that she couldn't, but now she wished she had. Her best friend was going into battle, and she was a girl. But if anyone could do this, it was Princess Sakura of the Kinomoto Kingdom.

.

When Sakura got her first glimpse of the battle, her first reaction was to gag. Bodies lie everywhere fighters didn't. The stench of blood filled the air like a suffocating gas, and the red substance was everywhere. Sakura's instinct was to turn back but she knew she couldn't, she would be shamed forever. She nudged her frightened horse and they trotted up to the fight. At once she knew that this was no place for her trusty horse she got off and told it to go back to Tomoyo.

"Go Kero," she said to her friend. Then she turned to the battle. No one saw the new comer immediately, but soon soldiers from the Li kingdom spotted their new enemy for Sakura wore the red color of her Kingdom. And soon she was in a fight. At first her fright got in the way of her fighting, she was too scared to even think. All she could think was

'This man means to kill me!' But after a few messy blocks she thought of her father and brother and then her head was back in the game. Surprised at his opponents change in attitude, the Li warrior was quickly defeated. Sakura tried not to kill, but then realized that that would do no good on the battle field. After an hour, or so, of fighting she was beginning to get tired, she wondered how these people could do non-stop battle for months. She was clashing swords with a huge giant of a man when she was thrown back to back with another man. She was worried about a behind attack so she quickly knocked away the giant and threw her sword at her other opponents then she realized he had done the same. Then she gasped and stopped an inch from his neck. And he from hers.

"Yamazaki!"

"Princess Sakura!" They stared at each other in shock until Sakura saw a movement behind her friend. Hoping he would get the message to duck she lunged at the attacker, but he didn't duck he too lunged, for someone was behind her. They again stood back to back, but this time on opposite sides. Sakura held her sword in front of her in a battle stance and glanced at Yamazaki.

"Princess-"

"Don't call me that! Everyone will hear!" she hushed as they fought together.

"Sakura, what the hell are you doing here?!" he cried. "You could get killed!"

"I wanted to help my Kingdom, as you are doing." She stated. He let out a breath.

"At least tell me you are with Ronin," he pleaded.

"I can take care of myself, Ronin had other things to attend to. Me and Tomoyo snuck out last night." He groaned.

"You brought Lady Daidouji? Sakura…." He whined.

"She caught me and I couldn't keep her from coming, she not here though, don't worry. She's watching from the cliff." Sakura said pointing to the cliff. As they looked Sakura spotted two dots walking up where her horse had just gone. "On no, Tomoyo!" she cried. "I'll be back I have to go save Tomoyo," she told Yamazaki before running off. Yamazaki was going to follow her, but fighters got in the way and held him back.

.

Xiao Lang and Eriol

As Xiao Lang led the wounded Eriol away from the battle, he knew he would have to act fast. Eriol was loosing blood fast, but in order to treat it, they needed a safe place to rest. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he saw a white stallion galloping away from the battle toward a cliff. Xiao Lang finished cutting down a soldier and called to Eriol.

"Eriol, see that stallion? I bet if we follow it, it will lead us to a trail, or better yet, a water hole." Eriol nodded and they made their way to follow the horse. It lead them up a pass for a little less than a half an hours slow walk. After that time, they finally hit level ground. Eriol almost collapsed.

"Don't go yet cousin. We have to find shade, we'll follow the beast for a little longer. Wearily Eriol nodded.

.

Tomoyo had been watching Sakura race off to the battle field but had lost her in the crowd, the cliff was so high up you could barely make anything out. All she could see was the clashing between Kinomoto Red and Li Green. After watching for awhile she had spotted Sakura's horse coming up the pass. At first she was worried but then realized that no harm had befallen her friend. While watching the horse, she noticed movement behind it. Two men were following it! She gasped and turned in fright. She had no where to go! She only had a few minutes to hide. She looked around. Their camp had been set up around a small water hole, and the horses tied to a lonely tree, the only other thing around were rocks. Maybe she could hide behind one of them!

The two tired fighters reached the top of the hill and immediately stopped. The horse had stopped in front of a water hole, but someone was already there. Xiao Lang told Eriol to wait there while he went to see if the coast was clear. He walked around the put out fire, the other tied up brown horse and all the other gear laying around. When he thought it was safe he called Eriol over. The blue haired warrior collapsed near the water and drank. Xiao Lang started to tend to the wound when he noticed the horse they had followed had walked behind a boulder and was neighing at something. Curiously he walked very stealthily over. As he got nearer he heard a whisper something like: "Shhhhh. Go away!" He quickly but quietly walked all the way over and suddenly jumped out from behind a rock.

"Ahhhhhh!" Tomoyo screamed. Eriol looked up at the cry to see Xiao Lang facing a beautiful girl with long ebony hair cascading down her back. She had a pale porcelain face and deep purple eyes. She was gorgeous. She automatically moved to the other side of the rock from Xiao Lang.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he taunted. She didn't answer and silence overcame them, until someone did. Eriol heard the swoosh of a sword from its holder somewhere behind him.

"Stop right there!" he heard. He turned and saw a Kinomoto fighter, sword drawn and pointing at them. "Don't touch her!" the warrior cried again. Eriol made the move to get up and help his friend but the stranger came closer and kicked his sword away. "Don't move!" he cried, then turned his attention back to Xiao Lang. Being distracted Tomoyo ran away from Xiao Lang to Sakura.

"You alright Tomoyo?" the warrior asked the girl. Tomoyo nodded. Xiao Lang spoke up.

"Kinomoto fighter and royalty. What are you doing away from the battle?" he asked. The girls didn't answer.

"What about you, a Li solider?" Sakura said instead. Xiao Lang frowned.

"I can do whatever I want, though it is none of your business." He answered. Sakura's grip tightened on her sword's hilt.

"And our business is none of yours," she replied. Xiao Lang restrained himself from saying, "I am prince I do as I please," but that would give away his identity. Instead he frowned. Sakura continued on. "Please leave this place, we mean no bad intent," she tried. Xiao Lang frowned.

"And what if we don't want to leave? We like this place." He answered.

"Please leave," Sakura, disguised as a fighter said again.

"No. I guess our only option is to fight," he answered and drew his sword. As soon as he had pulled his sword out, Sakura knew he was a skilled fighter. And from his stance, a much better fighter than she had faced today. Sakura tensed and went into a fighting stance.

Xiao Lang could tell from his opponent's stance that he was a good fighter.

'Lets just see how good,' he though to himself, as he stood at the ready. They stood like that for awhile, then all of a sudden Xiao Lang charged Sakura. Sakura held her ground as she blocked his first hit. They were off.

Parry

Parry

Block

Lunge

Swing

Miss

Block

Over and over again. Sakura was soon tired. So was her opponent, from the sweat on his face. Then she found an opening and lunged, he dodged, but she slightly cut his upper arm. He jumped away and looked at the small wound. Sakura smiled and went into another stance. He growled and lunged again.

Eriol starred in shock. No one had ever landed a blow on the prince since, well, ever! And this Kinomoto fighter just did. And looked about ready to do it again. Eriol knew this opponent was a tough one, much better than himself, he just hoped not as good as his cousin. He looked over to the girl, Tomoyo he thought it was. She was standing there looking worried toward the fighter. Were they perhaps lovers? What was she doing out here anyway? But she really was beautiful- wait. What was he thinking? He shook his head and looked back at the fight.

One thing was for sure, this fighter may be better than himself, but Xiao Lang had something he didn't have. Endurance. All those nights and days of straight training had paid off. The Kinomoto attacker was getting tired, and both of them knew it. Finally he found a weak spot in his attack and tried it. Somehow the Kinomoto attacker spun and Xiao Lang swung, missing him, but cutting his hair loose, the attacker was surprised and this gave Xiao Lang another chance. He lunged again and the Kinomoto fell, Xiao Lang on top, sword pointed at his throat. They lay there, he sitting on top, breathing heavily. Then all of a sudden he froze and jumped up, taking a few steps back. The Prince stuttered as his opponent sat up.

"Y-you-you're a-a-a GIRL!" he exclaimed. _She_ stood up and dusted herself off while he took another look at _her_. She had long, long golden brown hair and a very feminine face. Yes, she was defiantly a girl. As she was bending down to pick up her sword he stepped on the metal and again put his sword to her throat.

"What is a girl doing out here, in armor, pretending to be a man?" he asked.

"Man or woman, all you want to know is what I am doing here," was her answer. "I was helping my country, which is what I assume you were doing." Xiao Lang growled, this girl had a temper.

"What is your name?" he demanded. The girl did not speak. "What is your name?" he demanded again. Again she did not speak. His temper rose and he closed in the gap between her and the sword, growing closer to her. "I asked you a question!" he yelled. She did not flinch, but spoke.

"My name is Sakura." Again Xiao Lang did a double take.

"Sakura? As in Princess Kinomoto Sakura?" Sakura cringed, she was hoping this Li-man wouldn't recognize the name.

"Yes, that would be right." She answered. Xiao Lang didn't know what to do, so he just stood there. Here he stood with his sword to the Princess of his arch enemy's kingdom. He couldn't just kill her, could he? He looked back at the girl. She was sort of pretty, his hand flexed on the hilt.

"Don't hurt her!" he heard someone cry. He turned and saw the girl warrior's companion. He motioned for Eriol to the girl. He limped along and held her.

"Sorry milady," Eriol said as he held the beautiful girl in his arms. She blushed and said nothing, but squirmed. Sakura noticed that the Li was distracted and took a chance. She preformed a high kick and knocked her sword from the man's hand. After that she quickly ran to it and picked it up. He reacted too late and there they stood again, sword to neck for both of them. Xiao Lang was annoyed and surprised, but held his ground.

"Eriol," he said simply. Sakura looked over at her friend and her captor and saw that he had taken a knife and was holding it up to Tomoyo's throat, apologizing the entire time. Tomoyo tried to act brave, but she was shaking. Sakura hung her head, then her sword.

As the Li man tied a rope binding her hands, Eriol did the same.

"Ladies, you are now in the company of Price Li and Sir Hiiragizawa," the prince said. Sakura's head whipped around.

"What?!" she gasped. Xiao Lang just smiled. 'Oh no, I have gotten myself captured by the Prince of our opposing Kingdom!' she thought. Next to her, Tomoyo gave her a sympathetic look.

"We'll be staying here over night, then I'll take you home," the Prince decided. Sakura's eyes glimmered with hope. "My home." He finished, and her hopes were shattered.

That night no one went to sleep. The two men dozed off a few times, but the girls stayed awake scared. Well, Tomoyo was scared, Sakura was just angry.

'How could I let him beat me?!' she screamed at herself. 'What did I do wrong?' she sighed. 'You did nothing wrong except get tired.' Sakura had many attempts so escape, and almost made it once, with Tomoyo, but the Li Prince was faster. She felt an exhausted and frightened Tomoyo fall asleep, and soon she did herself.

Only to be awoken in less than a few hours by a bucket of water being thrown on her face. And a boy saying,

"Aw, you didn't have to do that." It was the blue haired one, he was much nicer. But what gave him the right to be nice? They were her captors. Duh. After they woke Tomoyo up, in a much nicer manner, they rolled up the camp and set out. The men on the horses and the women tied, walking behind. After awhile of walking in silence Sakura spoke up to the Li Prince.

"At least tell me the name of the boy riding my horse," she said. "Or trying," she added as Kero reared and neighed, not liking the stranger. Finally the Li got him settled and turned back to Sakura.

"My name is Li Xiao Lang and this is Hiiragizawa Eriol if you must know," he answered hotly, not liked being called a boy. Sakura looked puzzled.

"What kind of name is Xiao Lang?" she asked.

"It's Cantonese," he growled. Sakura let out a small "oh" and went quiet. He looked to Eriol and he was frowning. Xiao Lang sighed and in a barely audible voice said. "In your language it's Syaoran." Eriol smiled.

Tomoyo could immediately tell that Xiao Lang, Syaoran had never captured anyone, and that Eriol didn't want to. As soon as their names had been given Eriol had been nonstop talking about, well, anything. Tomoyo soon thought she knew everything about the blue haired knight. She wasn't quite sure if Sakura were listening. And pretty soon, she found herself talking back, slowly.

When the sky began to grow dark, Syaoran and Eriol decided that it was time to stop and camp. The girls were very tried from walking all day behind horses, with little time to rest. They plopped down on the hard ground unceremoniously with a sigh. Syaoran set up camp while Eriol brought them some water.

"Now, I will untie you two, but please promise me you will not attempt to run away." He asked. Tomoyo nodded at once, and finally Sakura did too. They obeyed. Syaoran got a small fire going and the four sat around it in complete silence until he said he had to go collect more wood.

Through the uncomfortable silence Eriol found himself staring at the girl called Tomoyo. Then he realized he had been doing it all day. The girl, Sakura, was defiantly radiant and beautiful, but Tomoyo had grace and just glowed. He longed to see her happy, and not captive.

"I am sorry for Xiao- Syaoran's behavior," he began but stopped. "I guess that sounds really stupid. Our two country's are at war, why would we not kidnap you?" he laughed at his words, but silence grew back. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, we will not harm you. Syaoran looks tuff, but really, he's a big teddy bear. As soon as we get back to the kingdom all we will do is ask for some type of ransom and then the war will stop."

"We all want the war to stop, but we don't want to be kidnapped for it," Tomoyo said bluntly. Eriol blushed, sighed and gave up as Syaoran came back with wood.

.

.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Hey look at me go! Yet another update!! I think this may be a new record, 3 updates in the past few months! Yes, I know it's pretty pathetic, but…I'll just blame it on lack of reviews. Yea- that's it! Review more!

Hope you like the latest installment, with of course- the S&S scenes you've been waiting for!

.

**Chapter Three **

Ronin had been riding all day. As soon as he had his talk with the Prince he saw the King.

"_Your Highness," he introduced kneeling. King Fujitaka was in his study looking out the window. _

"_Ronin." He acknowledged. "I have heard of my daughter. My __son__ is wounded badly and my __daughter__ goes out to fight. What could have happened to possess her to do this?" he asked. Ronin looked at the floor, how could he answer without telling him about their secret meetings?_

"_I guess she wanted to protect and help her family and kingdom." He tried. The King rose from his chair. _

"_I know you are keeping something from me Ronin, but I also know you love my daughter so I will overlook it for now. I will want to know, after you retrieve my daughter. Eat and sleep, then, as your duty to protect her, find her. And please find her alive." He said. Ronin nodded and left. _

_So the King knew. They would have to tell him eventually. _

And here Ronin rode, of to save his love from the war. He smiled despite himself. Why was he surprised? This was just like Sakura, fiery, passionate, Princess Sakura. Their roles in this play were switched, and he laughed at it. Until he realized that she could be hurt. It was his duty to not let that happen.

Ronin was born in the castle as the Queen's favorite maid's son. His father was a guard and taught him how to fight and defend himself, however at that time he was just a stable boy. When he was 3 years old, the Queen herself had another child, a girl, a Princess. He had often seen the baby Princess in her mother's arms, and longed to get a fill glimpse of her.

When he was 6 years old, his father and the King announced to him that when he was older, he would take care of the baby Princess. He didn't really know what that meant until he was older, when the time came for he was called for duty.

One day the curious Princess accidentally wandered to the training camp and had watched the trainee's spar. She stayed there until Ronin had found her later that afternoon. As she grew older Ronin would start explaining to her what they were doing and what there techniques were. Until one day when the head trainer spotted them. His name was Terada and him and Ronin had been age old friends. He smiled as he saw the Princess.

"Ah, Little Princess Sakura, what a pleasure," Terada said bowing. Sakura smiled. "I have seen you a couple of times now. Do you enjoy watching us?" he asked.

"Oh yes! Ronin and I have been coming down here everyday!" she cried happily.

"Princess, do not tell! You know we aren't supposed to be down here!" Ronin had cried. The Princess looked down.

"Don't worry, I will tell no one of these trips." Terada had replied.

Soon Terada had come over to talk everyday, and help Ronin explain everything to Sakura. One day he handed her his sword, it took her a while to get used to it's weight, but she finally got the hang of it.

"A strong Princess we have here," Terada have exclaimed. Little did he know.

Later, it was Terada who had come up with the thought of training the Princess with the other boys. She had been disguised as well as possible and the boys treat her no different. Only one boy knew of her gender and royalty, Takashi Yamazaki, a year Sakura's senior, who would never tell.

Being her protector they had fallen into friendship. And as they grew up, Ronin had noticed her beauty coming forth. Soon, he had secretly fallen in love with her, but it would be some time later when she joined that feeling.

He had watched suitors come and go, before and after his time, never to her liking. When the time came for her to marry, he would be both happy and regretful, for he never really stopped loving her.

And that's why he had to save her. Not just for her future, of the future of the Kingdom, but for himself as well.

He would reach the battle field in a little more than a day. He hoped he wasn't too late.

.

Sakura, Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran

The group would reach the Li Kingdom later the following day, and Sakura was getting nervous. What would happen when they got there? To her? To Tomoyo? She looked down as she traveled behind the Prince's horse (her horse). The amber eyes of the Prince captured the motion.

"What's wrong?" he asked gruffly. Sakura looked up. Hiiragizawa, as she had come to call him, had been nice, telling them that kidnapping was not part of the original plan, and sadly they were on their way to becoming friends. But Prince Li, had strong barriers around himself and had no respect for them at all. The way a normal capturer should be.

"What will your family do to us when we get there?" she asked. Syaoran didn't answer. Truthfully, he didn't know what his family was going to do to _him_ when he got home.

"We'll probably just use you as a ransom or something," was his short reply.

"Oh. Just promise you won't hurt Tomoyo!" she said.

"What about yourself?" the confused Prince replied. Sakura looked down again.

"It was my idea to come out here and put myself in danger. I could never forgive myself if I put Tomoyo in danger too." She whispered. The young Prince looked at her with confusion in his eyes. No one in his family had cared for each other before themselves. This was a totally new concept for him. Syaoran wanted to help her….

'Help her? She is your captive!' his mind screamed.

'But she's just like me. All she wanted to do was help her country.' He argued.

'She can help you do that.'

'There must be someway I can so something without seeming weak.' He thought. Syaoran suddenly stopped his horse and Sakura stumbled with out the notice.

"I propose another duel. If you win I let Daidouji go free. If I win… she stays."

"Ok," the Princess said with out hesitation.

"Syaoran? What are you doing?" Eriol asked his cousin as he watched Syaoran get down off of his horse.

"Sakura, don't do this. I'm ok-really." Tomoyo pleaded. But Sakura wasn't to be swayed, neither was Syaoran.

Syaoran had a little bit of an advantage, he had been properly taken care of, while Sakura had been in captivity for the past days. But Sakura was doing this for a cause she wasn't going to take lightly. Syaoran untied Sakura and fetched her sword from the pack. He threw it to her and barely had time to duck let alone get his own sword before she struck. She swiped a few more times, but he ducked all of them. He led her back to his horse and he grabbed his sword just in time to block another swing from the Princess.

Man this girl was powerful!

"Ok, ready?" she asked taking a step back and getting into position. His eyebrows rose in question, but soon he responded.

"On guard!" he yelled before he lunged and they were at it again. At once Syaoran over powered Sakura, but she held her own through her skill. Neither of them had the upper hand until Syaoran knocked Sakura's sword away.

"Sakura!" Tomoyo gasped and when to go to her friend, but Eriol stopped her.

"Wait, this is their fight, and it's not over."

Tomoyo turned back to the fight in time to see Sakura back hand-spring out of the way and grab her sword.

Syaoran was very impressed and the fight was on again.

They stood there for awhile, trying to figure out the other's move when Syaoran charged- Sakura was ready she blocked and swung low toward his abdomen. He jumped back and struck again but she again blocked. They stood there with their swords together fighting with inner strength. Suddenly, the two warrior's ears picked up the sound of horse hoofs. They gave each other a questioning glance, then suddenly a cry split the air.

"Xiao Lang!" Syaoran looked up and saw the rider. Black hair trailed from two buns as she flew full speed.

"Melin?" he asked. He turned back to Sakura and they both jumped back from each other, swords still defensive.

"Xiao Lang! What are you doing?" the rider asked as she approached.

"Eriol, come tie her back up," he stated. The girl with him let out a desperate cry.

"What!? This duel is not over! I have to set Tomoyo free!" Melin was confused at her words.

"We will continue this another time. I'm on to other matters." He said turning his attention to Melin.

"Sorry Ms. Kinomoto," Eriol said sheepishly as he tied her back up. Melin was still confused.

"Kinomoto? As in _Princess_?" she asked incredulously. Syaoran sighed.

"Cousin Melin meet Lady Tomoyo Daijouji and Princess Sakura Kinomoto. I found them during the battle, they are my captives. We are going to present them as a ransom when we return home-"

"No! You can't go home! Your mother is furious! Truthfully, I don't know what she'll do to you, or them!" Melin cried. The girls looked confused.

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Syaoran shouted. Melin looked thoughtful.

"You'll ride to Kyoko." She said finally.

"But-" Syaoran started, but hesitated. "What about you? And Eriol? And the girls?" he asked. Melin shrugged.

"I don't know, but I do know you can't go home."

"What will you say to Yelan Li?" Eriol asked. Melin thought for a moment.

"I'll wait a day, ride home and tell her I couldn't find you."

"She won't believe it." Syaoran said.

"I know, but it will give you a head start. I'll come back in a few days time." With that she got on her horse.

"Good luck," she said to her cousin, and he nodded in response. Then with a "yaw!" she road off. Syaoran sighed.

"What about us?" Sakura demanded.

"I guess your coming with us until this is settled." Syaoran sighed. Sakura opened her mouth to say more but he cut her off. "The both of you, until we finish our duel. Which will have to wait awhile. Eriol we camp here tonight, then at dawn we ride for Kyoko."

Sakura let out a frustrated cry and plopped down.

.

Ronin

Ronin had finally reached the battle field. What met his eyes was similar to what had met his Princess' earlier before. He had failed to catch up with her, and hoped that he wouldn't fail her again on the field. He quickly rode down to the battle and joined it. But his thoughts weren't on the men he killed, but on finding Sakura. After hours of searching he found a different familiar face.

"Yamazaki!" he yelled from atop his horse.

"Ronin! You're back! What news from the Kingdom?" he asked, killing another Li solider.

"Princess Sakura had run away to this battle. Have you seen her?" he asked.

"Yes," Yamazaki answered to Ronin's surprise. "But it was a day ago. She came and then left saying that Lady Daijouji was in danger." He killed off the man he had been parrying with and pointed to the cliff behind him. "She went up there."

Ronin nodded. "Good luck. Stay alive. Chiharu will never forgive you." Yamazaki nodded as Ronin rode off.

When he reached the top of the cliff sometime later, to his dread and happiness he saw Tomoyo's horse and a few scattered belongings, but no women. He sighed and leaped off his horse letting it rest.

"Where did they go?" he asked the other horse. It neighed, but did not answer. The guard sighed again and plopped down on the dirt, his head in his hands. Suddenly, he looked up at something on the ground. It was too far away to tell what it was so he crawled on his hands and knees. Finally, he picked it up and examined it.

It was a small patch of green cloth. The green of the Li Kingdom. The cloth of a solider. It looked as if it had been cut off in a duel.

Ronin thought. Was it that easy?

She had been taken to the Li Kingdom.

He hoped.

.

The Gang

They had been traveling to the Kyoko kingdom for 2 days now. Sakura had tiredly voiced that she had never been there, and neither had Tomoyo.

So Eriol took the liberty to explain what it was like.

Syaoran had even chipped in and told them about Melin, and her ties to the Kyokos.

"Melin is my cousin. She is going to marry the Prince of Kyoko in a few days time. Or at least she was." He explained.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. Syaoran glared at her, but answered anyway.

"The Prince was going to fight for the Li's, but I ran away, everything is changed."

"You ran away?" Sakura gasped confused. "Why would a Prince run away?"

"That's none of your business." He growled loudly. Sakura sighed.

"I ran away." She said. Syaoran perked his head up at this confession. "My parents didn't want me to fight, because I was a girl. They kept saying that Princesses aren't supposed to fight, they are only for having heirs. But I thought differently." Syaoran looked over to the Princess. Her voice was barely above a whisper and she was looking at the ground. Syaoran realized that they had more in common then he thought.

"My mother didn't want me to fight either, so I ran away." He said. She looked up and he found confusion in her eyes.

"Is that why you can't go back?" she asked the wind blowing her hair about. Syaoran was about to answer when he caught himself.

'Why are you telling her all this!? She doesn't need to know! She's you hostage!'

Sakura saw Syaoran's face turn to a growl as he turned around to look somewhere else.

'So much for information.' Sakura thought. But then her eyes softened. 'We are exactly a like. He has the same issues I do. Damn.' Sakura turned her head to her best friend. Tomoyo and Hiiragizawa had seemed to be getting closed. Sakura frowned at his strategy. But when she looked closer, she could find that maybe, it wasn't a strategy. Maybe he really was like that.

'Ugh! We get captured by the two worst people and Tomoyo falls in love with one of them! Impossible.'

Syaoran couldn't stop looking at the girl he dragged behind him day after day. She certainly was different. Very different. He argued with his inner self and turned to any direction then her. Unfortunately it was toward the other two members of their party. Eriol was impossible! Sure, the Lady Daijouji was pretty, maybe beautiful, but she was their captive! What was the idiot doing falling in love with someone they were using!

'Ugh!' his mind screamed. 'Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.'

.

They had been traveling for three days since their encounter with Melin. Syaoran had said that the Kyoko kingdom was a little less than two weeks ride.

It was night now and the boys had set up camp around a fire. The nights were getting colder as winter grew closer.

Sakura watched from her "bed" as Syaoran stoked the fire.

"What will happen to us when we get to the Kyoko kingdom?" she asked. True, she had asked this before, when they were going to Syaoran's home territory, but she had never been answered.

Syaoran looked at the Kinomoto princess.

In the dark she looked alone, afraid and vulnerable.

"I don't know, it's not my country." He offered, he always offered an "I don't know." But he truly didn't. Yet, for some reason, he wanted to offer comfort to the green eyed soldier.

Her eyes looked downcast and her gaze moved to the fire, occasionally flickering toward her sleeping comrade.

"I won't let anything harm her. She has nothing to do with this. Her capture won't stop the war," he said silently. Sakura's face looked up at cold Li Prince in utter surprise.

Syaoran himself surprised himself at his own words, but didn't stop there. Looking back down at the fire he mumbled. "You either." He poked at the fire some more. After realizing what he said at the Princess's gaze, he quickly added.

"There's just no point. You were only after what I was…" he looked back over and saw Sakura smiling.

"Good night Li," he heard her say as she lied down.

'Did I just say that?' he thought as he too lied down for the night. 'Wait, did she just say good night?'

Sakura smiled. For some reason the Li had said that he would protect her, and for some reason, she believed him.

.

It was pitch black darkness outside when Sakura woke up. Sure she hadn't really had a great nights sleep since being captured, hell, since she left her home, but she had been sleeping through the night.

So why was she awake?

Sakura thought it was nothing and that she would go back to sleep so she didn't move. But as she lay there, she felt like something was wrong, something was off. She blinked her eyes awake and listened.

She heard the rustle of cloths and the falls of footsteps.

Slowly she reached for Syaoran's sword. As she reached to pick it up, a boot fell into her gaze and stepped on the sword.

"Hey! What do you think you're do-" a man started to yell, but Sakura had already spun her body around and kicked the man's legs from under him. Grabbing the man's knife, she looked around. Men were all over the camp, robbers of some sort, but it looked like Sakura had woken up just in time.

"Li!" she yelled as they charged at her, realizing she was awake and one of their comrades wasn't.

Sakura was doing pretty nicely with just a knife, but she wasn't going to be able to hold them off for long.

"Li! Where are you?!" she yelled, throwing 3 men off her. When she was clear, she saw that Li hadn't even woken up yet.

"I think something is wrong," she heard from Eriol who was fighting besides her. "Watch out behind you!" Sakura turned to see a man coming at her with an axe. She quickly blocked the swing with her knife, and round-house kicked him away.

"Hiiragizawa, where's Tomoyo?" Sakura yelled, frantic after not seeing her friend.

"I hid her somewhere. Don't worry, she's safe. But something is wrong with Syaoran, he's still not awake." He said, Sakura nodded and made her way towards Li, figuring the blue haired boy could take care of the few robber-bandits left.

"Li, wake up! What's wrong?" she said, shaking the prince. He moaned and rolled away. "Li?" she asked, becoming more gentle. The Sakura noticed the sweat on his forehead and the frown marking his handsome features. She put a hand on his head. "Li! You're burning up!" she said.

Syaoran felt like he was on fire! Every inch of him hurt. He could hear Eriol and Kinomoto yelling for him, but he couldn't seem to open his eyes. Finally, he felt something cool on his forehead, and Kinomoto saying something about a fever. Feeling her touch, his eyes slowly opened and he was face to face with beautiful green eyes. Green eyes that were full of determination, and… worry? Worry for what? Suddenly he saw movement behind her.

"Kinomoto, watch out!" he yelled. She turned around just in time to dodge a punch from a much bigger man. She rolled out of the way, leading the man away from the defenseless Syaoran.

This man was huge! He had to be three times the size of Sakura herself. Sakura, got into her fighting stance and lifted up her knife. The man started laughing and pulled out one of his own and lounged. Sakura blocked, but was pushed back a few feet just from his hit alone. He laughed and threw her backwards, breaking her hold on her knife she managed to land on her feet.

The man had proceeded to go back to Li so Sakura ran and knocked his feet from under him. He stopped laughing after he fell with an "oomph" and glared at Sakura. After getting up, he swiped at Sakura again and again with his knife, but she managed to avoid each hit. However, she wasn't strong enough and every hit she managed to land didn't phase him. Finally, he landed a punch and she flew backwards on her back. Dazed for a moment she continued to lie there until she heard Hiiragizawa yell. "Syaoran!" Sakura knew he wasn't going to get there in time, and before she knew it, she was up and running.

And suddenly there was pain. Bringing her hand from her side, she realized it was covered in blood.

"Sakura!" she heard someone yell. But it wasn't Tomoyo's voice, it was deeper, and coming from behind her. Li? She looked back at her attacker who smiled and went to finish her off, when he suddenly stopped. Spinning around, he saw that Eriol was behind him, his sword through his gut. The man fell.

Abruptly, all of Sakura's strength left her body and she started to fall.

"No!" someone whispered and she felt herself in the arms of someone very strong. The last thing she saw was big, amber eyes.

Syaoran had seen that the man was too much for the Kinomoto princess, and had tried to get out of the dream like state he was in, but his fever was too high. Then, he noticed that the big man was right above him, hovering a knife closely to Syaoran's chest. Syaoran waited for the blow to come, but only felt the swoosh of air. Opening his eyes he realized that Kinomoto was in front of him and was bleeding from a gash in her side. Then he realized what she had done.

"Sakura!" he heard himself yell in astonishment, worry and dread. Time moved slowly as he saw Eriol cut down the man, and Sakura start to fall.

"No!" he had whispered as he caught her. "Stay with me!" he yelled at the unconscious girl in his arms.

"Sakura!" he heard Daijouji yell, coming from her hiding place. Syaoran looked down at the princess in his arms, but the movement was too much, with the girl in his arms, he passed out as well.

.

Syaoran groaned as he felt a cooling sensation applied to his forehead. He tried opening his eyes, but the light of the sun forced them to close again.

"Eriol! He's waking up!" he heard a voice yell. He felt the footsteps of what he could only guess as he cousin coming closer.

"Hey Syaoran. How you do feel?" Syaoran paused and waited for feeling to come into his entire body. He wiggled his toes, everything felt normal.

"What happened?" he groaned. Then it all came rushing back to him. "Sakura!" he yelled, sitting up as fast as he could. Eriol was sitting on his right next to the Lady Daijouji, both looking solemn. But Sakura nor the bandits were in site.

"Where's Sakura? What's going on?" he asked.

"You've been asleep for the past two days with a horrible fever. Today is the first day it's broken. I moved camp to get away from the bandits. Most were injured, some were dead." Syaoran noticed how he didn't answer his first question and Daijouji remained silent.

"Is Sakura alright?" he asked, with a worry he didn't know he possessed. Daijouji sobbed.

"She hasn't woken up yet either, and her fever's getting worse!" Syaoran sat there dumb struck, but then pushed the blanket off his body as fast as he could. It took awhile for his legs to work again, but when they did he ran as fast as he could to the only other tent set up. Syaoran threw open the cloth door and stopped at the sight.

The Kinomoto princess lay there, shaking with fever and bandages around the entire upper half of her body. Blood soaked through the bandage around her middle, needing to be changed. She grimaced in pain, but made no noise.

Syaoran slowly bent down to kneel by her. This girl had saved his life, almost sacrificed her own for his, and all he had ever done was kidnap her!

With a gentleness he didn't think he possessed, he brushed her bangs out of her face. She moaned and amazingly opened her eyes.

Syaoran decided right there and then that he loved the color green.

"You…called me…Sakura," she whispered and then sank back into blackness.

After making sure she was alright and comfortable, a slightly embarrassed Syaoran walked out of the tent. Eriol and Tomoyo were standing there waiting anxiously.

"Kinomoto will be fine," he gruffed, turning away from them trying to turn his natural color.

"Thank goodness," Tomoyo breathed relieved, but she also noticed that Syaoran was saying "Kinomoto" again.

.

Sakura's fever only lasted one more day, thanks to Tomoyo's 13 stitches to her wound, which could now heal nicely. One the third day, Sakura was almost back to her old self, and wanting to get out of bed.

"Please Tomoyo, I've been sitting here for 5 days!" she argued as Tomoyo inspected her wound. But the Lady just shook her head.

"Sakura, you could re-open the stitches! You don't want to go through all of this again do you?"

"No," Sakura sighed. "I just want to do something else." The two friends sat in silence as Tomoyo finished up.

"Hey Kinomoto," came a voice from outside the tent. "I was wondering- AHH!" he yelled as he accidentally walked in the tent.

"AHHHH!" Sakura yelled, trying to cover herself up. Syaoran turned around completely embarrassed.

"I'm sorry- I didn't know you were- I just wanted-" he stuttered.

"Don't you ever knock!?" Sakura yelled.

"Pervert…" Tomoyo whispered.

"Hey! I heard that!" he yelled, stalking right out of the tent.

Both were still blushing a few hours later.

.

Ronin

The Li Kingdom was in sight, just beyond the hill that he was overlooking. The castle was different then the Kinomoto's structure, but it was still a grand and beautiful place. Unfortunately, he did not come here to sight see.

And unfortunately he didn't have a plan.

Heck, he wasn't 100% sure that Sakura was in there!

A neighing of a horse behind him was the sudden answer to his prayers. Whipping around and drawing his sword at the same moment, he turned to see a woman riding on horseback. Her only way through was past him.

"Get out of the way!" she yelled, but he didn't move, so she pulled her horse to a halt. "You wear the red of the Kinomoto kingdom! What do you want?" she asked. Ronin pointed his sword at her. She was pretty with a porcelain face and black hair pulled into two buns atop her head.

"You have taken something very precious to me, to us!" he yelled, in reference of his princess.

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about!" she yelled back, placing her hand on her own sword, but Ronin stepped closer, daring her to draw the weapon.

Melin didn't know what to do about this new twist. This man obviously knew that the Kinomoto princess was somewhere that had something to do with the Li clan, but how much info he had she didn't know. So she tried to play dumb. What she did know was that she had to tell Queen Yelan that her son was lost, so he could get a head start to Kyoko, with the Kinomoto princess.

"You have the princess," the man before her spoke again. There went playing dumb.

"Who are you?" she asked, now wondering what a lone solider was doing out in their enemies kingdom. He must have troops somewhere.

"That is none of your concern," he said. He was stubborn.

"Tell me who you are and how many of you there are and I will give you the information you seek," she said.

Ronin considered this. Finally he gave in, but didn't lower his sword.

"My name is Ronin, and I come alone. I'm not here to fight, I just want to get Saku- the princess back," he said.

Melin could tell that this man was close to the princess. Maybe he would be of some help. When she had last seen Xiao Lang he was with the princess, and it didn't seem like he wanted to kill her, in fact… it almost seemed like he was going to Kyoko to save her… With all these thoughts going through her head, Melin decided to trust this soldier in front of her.

"She is not here, lower your weapon and I shall tell you everything." She said. Ronin looked at her skeptically, but he needed all the information he could get, and lowered his weapon.

"My name is Li Melin. Your princess was taken by my cousin, Li Xiao Lang," she said from her horse.

"Wait," Ronin said in disbelief, "As in _Prince_ Li Xiao Lang?" Melin nodded. Ronin felt sick in the pit of his stomach.

"I found them fighting-"

"Fighting?!" Ronin exclaimed, but Melin smirked.

"Don't worry, your Princess is quite the swordswoman, I've never seen Xiao Lang get so flustered and so matched. And it seemed like a… friendly… match," she said. Ronin blinked in confusion. "I think your princess was fighting for another girl who was there."

"Another girl?" Ronin asked.

"Yes," Melin pondered. "She had long purple hair."

"Lady Daijouji?" Ronin asked himself. He hadn't even noticed the Lady was missing. What was Sakura thinking bringing her cousin into this? "If Prince Li has the princess, then you lied when you said she was not here." He said to Melin, gripping his sword tighter.

"I did no such thing as lie!" she yelled, her temper was short. "I saw them a few days ago. Meaning no harm to your princess, the prince has gone to Kyoko!"

"What do you mean?" Ronin asked, still at a loss.

"Prince Xiao Lang just wants this war to end, we all do. He has taken your princess to Kyoko where he hopes to negotiate, which is something he could not do here," she said, pointing at the palace. Ronin didn't waste another minute trying to figure it all out. He sensed he could trust this girl, and all he knew was to travel to Kyoko.

"Thank you," he said giving his head a quick bob down. "I will remember your assistance." And with that he started in the direction of Kyoko. Melin watched the Kinomoto solider go, hoping that by telling him all that, she hadn't doomed her cousin.

She took a deep breath and headed toward the green castle.

.

Melin

The grand hall doors opened with a bang, giving Melin a good view of Queen Yelan pacing on her throne. Finally she looked up.

"Melin! You're back!" she exclaimed, going back to her usual loving self, but then stopped as she noticed something was missing. "Where is my son?" Melin flinched.

"Queen Li Yelan," she began. "I could not find him on the battle field with the dead or alive," she answered. "But," she continued quickly, making sure that Yelan did not think her son dead, "I have heard rumors that he has left the main battle."

"Left? To where?" the Queen asked, soaking it all in. "I thought he just wanted to fight, why would he not be in battle?" Melin chose her words carefully.

"I think he just wants to end the war my Queen," she said. The Queen scoffed.

"What does Xiao Lang know of war?"

"He knows of politics my Lady," Melin said before she could stop herself. The Queen turned sharply in her direction.

"You are my favorite niece Melin Rae, but do not test this," she said. "I know you shared a good relationship with my son, and I know you know where he has gone, so tell me!" she said, coming closer to Melin. Melin gulped. She had given Xiao Lang time to get ahead, and his mother would need to be there for the final discussion anyway.

"He…he has gone to Kyoko," she said. The Queen blinked.

"Kyoko? Land of the North? What could possibly lie there for him?" she said, talking mostly to herself. "Kentaro!" she yelled, summoning the army's Captain.

"Yes highness," he said, bowing.

"Assemble my guard, I am traveling to Kyoko. And Melin is joining me." She turned to her niece. "Your fiancé will be overjoyed to see you again."

.

.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: I hope you enjoy a long chapter which should be taken as an apology for not paying enough attention to this story.

**Chapter Four **

Sakura smelt breakfast before she was even awake. The scent wafted through her nose as her eyes fluttered open, but she couldn't see due to the big canvas tent in her way. Another day had passed and she was beginning to think that Tomoyo would never let her out of this tent. Slowly she sat up, her wound was still stiff, and her body protested. That didn't stop her. Carefully, she pushed her blankets aside, and popped her head out of the door.

"What are you doing Princess?" she heard from her left. It was Hiiragizawa and he was giving her the "look." Sakura feigned innocence.

"Umm, nothing much. How about you? Beautiful morning isn't it?" he came closer to her, but before he could Sakura felt herself being lifted off the ground.

"If you wanted to come outside, you should've asked," she heard. She looked up and immediately blushed tomato red. Li was carrying her! "Don't get any ideas," he said gruffly before setting her gently down by the stove where Tomoyo was, giggling.

Meanwhile, Syaoran was finding it very hard to keep his own blush down, very hard. He had known Kinomoto had wanted to get out of the stuffy tent for days, and when he saw her trying to make her escape, painfully, he had picked her up without thought. Then he had realized what close proximity they had been in.

This girl, this princess- she was the one thing he couldn't even begin to understand.

She was feisty, a free spirit, and strong. The complete opposite of all the other princesses he had ever known. But, he understood that part. It was easy, because she was just like him.

But, why did she put herself in front of him that night?

That was the part about her he couldn't understand. Yes, she was like him in so many ways, but at the same time she was cheerful, understanding, loving…. Was that it?

"Syaoran? Earth to Syaoran?" said a voice, bringing the young prince out of his revere. He looked up. It was Eriol that had spoken, but everyone in the camp was looking at him.

"Sorry." He said, looking down at the ground. It was sandy, but more dirt was getting mixed in as they continued north.

"Anyway," Eriol continued. "Now that Princess Kinomoto here is better, I think that we should continue towards Kyoko tomorrow morning." Syaoran saw Tomoyo give a sideways glance at her princess in worry, but did not voice her thoughts.

Sakura looked up from her food, noticing all eyes were on her. She looked at Li, determination in her eyes.

"I'm fine. Lets ride tomorrow." She said.

.

When Sakura opened her eyes the next day, she wasn't greeted by the sun. It was still early and the night sky was slowly changing into dawn. It had been her plan to wake up early, before anyone else so that she could test her limits with her current wound. Gently she crawled out of the tent, and using the pole, tried to stand. Her legs were weak, and she swayed, not daring to put her entire weight on them. Finally, after a few minutes, she let go of the pole.

After six days, she was finally standing. Sakura smiled. Feeling daring after all, she tried to take one step forward. Her bones creaked, and her muscles ached, but she managed. She continued walking around the tent, her strength returning to her slowly.

Syaoran watched the princess take her first unsteady steps with complete awe. The sheer determination on her face was enough to raise the respect he felt for her a few notches. He did note, however, her face contort into pain with big movements. Traveling was going to be hard on her, but he doubted that she would let it show. She was strong. Perhaps a little too strong. He really didn't want anything to happen to her. Was it only because she had saved his life? He didn't think so. But if not, then why?

.

Sakura grimaced as the horse underneath her jarred into the ground. She should be thankful that Syaoran had given up his horse (even though it was her horse to begin with), so that she didn't have to walk, but everything was uncomfortable. But then, why did he let her ride? She had been trying to mask her weakness that morning, showing everyone that she was able to walk, but he had offered the horse to ride, and he to walk.

He probably thought that she was slowing them down. At least, that was what Sakura's mind had told her.

But, another part of her mind disagreed.

Sakura looked down to the prince who walked on her left. Over the past week she had been able to study him quite carefully from afar.

She had to admit, he was good looking. His brown hair was always messy, as if there was always a wind about him. His body was in excellent shape; from his legs, to his stomach, to his arms. She remembered those arms from when he had caught her after she fell the night she received her wound. Even though she had fallen into unconsciousness soon after, she remembered the feeling she had gotten while in his strong arms. Safe, protected, cared for.

Sakura blushed.

No, he was the complete opposite! He had dueled her, kidnapped her… fed her, carried her, given her a horse to ride…

Sakura looked back at the heir to the Li throne. The one thing that she was drawn to the most wasn't his body, or his hair, but his eyes.

Eyes like a caged tiger, which held so much emotion to them. But it was a muted emotion most of the time, like he had walls around his soul because he knew that otherwise it would be transparent. She would love to be able to stare into his eyes, the color of warm amber.

No, wait. What was she thinking? This was her captor! She had no feelings for him! Did she..?

.

The days were spent in silence, leaving each person to their own thoughts, for there were many within this strange group of four. The scenery around them had changed drastically and they found themselves out of the dessert and into a beautiful conifer forest. And according to the map that Eriol possessed, they would soon be coming across the town of Oleander.

They had ridden past a few towns, but never had the need to stop. However, now that they were past a week into their travels, they needed to stop for supplies.

Syaoran and Eriol set up camp a little ways outside of the town, under the shade of the conifer trees. There was a stream nearby and the men had caught fish for dinner.

As they sat around the fire, Eriol spoke up.

"Tomoyo and I have decided that we will ride into town tomorrow morning to restock on food and water." He said, wiping his mouth of the fish. Syaoran nearly choked.

"What?!" he yelled, upset that he hadn't been included on the decision making.

"We are worried that you or Sakura could be identified. It wouldn't be a good thing for everyone to know that the heirs to the Li and Kinomoto kingdom were running around unprotected," Tomoyo reasoned.

"I can protect myself just fine," Syaoran grumbled.

"I think they're right," Sakura said, her side still sore, but healing nicely. Syaoran looked at the princess who had been in his thoughts for days now. She could use a break from riding for a day, especially with that wound.

Tomoyo nodded as they began to make a list of the things she and Eriol would get tomorrow from the market. When the list was finished, she added her own supplies at the bottom.

"What will you need red cloth for?" asked Eriol. Tomoyo looked at him with stars in her eyes.

"I need to repair Sakura's clothing, since it was ripped while she saved Li." Everyone sweat dropped.

.

Tomoyo felt like a mother flustering over her children in the morning as her and Eriol were getting ready to leave. They would only be gone a day, but she was still worried for her friend and the Li prince. Finally, with a pulling from Eriol and a push from Sakura, she was on her way to Oleander. Leaving the prince and the princess alone.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Lady Daidouji?" Eriol asked, knowing the attitude of his prince, and the fact that the Kinomoto princess could bring it out in the fullest. Tomoyo's eyes sparkled.

"Of course! This will give them some much needed time together!" she said smiling.

"Just what is it that you are planning?" Eriol asked slowly. Tomoyo smirked.

.

The first order of business on her day off was to take a bath, Sakura thought as she walked toward the pool of water. Syaoran had found it last night while catching fish, and showed it to her in the morning. Sakura was incredibly happy to think that he had thought enough of her to realize that she desperately needed to be clean.

It was a pretty spot, where the water cascaded down into a standing pool, before rushing out, becoming a stream again.

Sakura looked around, before taking off her clothes.

She still wore the pants of Tomoyo's original Kinomoto battle outfit. However, the shirt had been ripped when she had gotten stabbed, and she was now wearing one of Li's extra training shirts. She carefully took off her outer and inner layers, leaving only her bandages, and slipped into the water.

It was cold, freezing even, but Sakura welcomed the temperature, her side finally numbing after a few minutes in the water.

Not once did Sakura regret jumping in front of the Li prince. Yes, he was her enemy, yes he had kidnapped her, put Tomoyo in danger and dragged them across the land, but… there was something about him.

In all of the above he had been nice. He had been trying to save his country. They were similar.

Maybe that's why she made the quick decision, that even though things would be easier if he were dead, she wouldn't be able to stand it.

That and he had been completely helpless at the time, and she couldn't just stand there and watch him die without a fight.

He wasn't the kind of person to go willingly.

Yet again, how would she know what kind of person he was?

She had known this man for barely over a week, and, being her captor, hadn't released all the mushy inner feelings and life story to her. But, it felt like they had known each other for years, and that he understood her. And maybe, she understood him too.

After being in the water for a good 20 min, Sakura laid out in the sun in an attempt to warm herself up, and dry off; continuing her musings on the amber eyed man a few hundred yards away.

.

Li Syaoran had awakened later then he had hoped, as the sun was streaming down onto his face from a tear in the fabric of his tent.

He got changed and stepped outside the tent, expecting to be greeted with the sight of his enemy's princess.

But she wasn't there.

Quickly he strode over to her tent, usually shared by Tomoyo, and forgetting all privacy rules opened the flap, expecting to find her asleep.

But she wasn't there either.

Panic came over him faster then he would care to admit at the knowledge of the missing princess. He ran around the outskirts of the camp before realizing what he was doing.

Number one: he was panicking. He never panicked.

Number two: he was panicking about the Kinomoto Princess. The girl he had kidnapped.

And number three: he was worried. About a girl no less.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, while sitting around the fire pit from the night before, trying to calm himself down and think straight.

Finally it sunk in. The lake, she was at the lake he had shown her last night.

And, if anything, she could take care of herself. She had proved that to him countless times.

Why was he worrying so much? Why was he being so kind to her? And since when was his favorite color green!?

That girl was playing tricks on his mind and body for that matter.

Could he possibly feel something for her? Of course he did, he respected her.

Syaoran shook his head. He respected a lot of people, yet he felt differently than them towards the Kinomoto princess. How could a girl that he'd only known for a week and a half get to him this much? Then again, the only other girl he had been with for more than a few hours had been Melin and his sisters.

Syaoran sighed and started to prepare some food to start off the day, and wait for Kinomoto to get back.

.

Sakura woke up to a lady bug crawling across her stomach. She laughed as it tickled her, and then watched as it flew away. Looking around she saw the stream and the woods nearby. Wait, stream and woods? She had fallen asleep while in the sun! Li was probably worried by now! She attempted to sit up rapidly, but her wound reminded her that it wasn't quite possible. She sat up more slowly, looking at the now wet wrap job of her wound.

Why would Li care if she was gone too long? It's not like he cared for her at all was it? No, the caring between them was only one sided.

Wait, she cared for him? Since when?

Well, whether she cared for him, or he didn't care for her, she needed to get back to the camp. Sakura pulled on Li's shirt and started walking back towards camp. She looked down at the green material that she had on. The dark green of the Li Clan clashed with her red pants.

He could never care for her, she was his sworn enemy.

As Sakura reached the camp, she began to smell delicious food coming from the fire, which reminded her that she hadn't had any food yet, even though it was getting late in the day. Thoughts completely on food she didn't notice the other person in her line of sight. She came around the corner just in time to see a half naked Li. She stopped in surprise at the sight of his naked chest. Sure from his fighting she could tell just how in shape his body would have to be, but she had never seen it. She stopped, sure she hadn't been seen, and waited until he put his shirt back on. When he had, she stepped out from behind the tent and made her presence known.

.

Syaoran had just sat down after changing his smoke covered shirt when he heard Kinomoto's limp coming from behind him. He turned to tell her off for taking so long when he noticed the red hue across her cheeks.

Was she…blushing?

The sight of the Kinomoto princess blushing threw him off completely, as he stammered to say something.

"W-where have you been?" he asked gruffly. "I was worried!" they both froze after that comment was made. Syaoran averted his eyes when she looked up in questioning. "I mean, I was worried you had run off. You are still my capture you know."

Sakura let out the breath she was holding. Of course he wasn't actually worried about you. How could you forget that he was just your kidnapper? That's all the two of you will be.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence while Syaoran mentally kicked himself over the head for his last comment. After the meal was finished and she made a move to leave, Syaoran noticed that something was wrong with her bandage.

"Hey, Kinomoto, come here," he said, placing his bowl down on the ground and walking over to her.

"What do you want?" she curtly replied. Syaoran ignored her tone of voice and moved his shirt out of the way to get a good look at her side. The bandages were damp and the skin around them was starting to get pink as it rubbed on her.

"Your bandage is wet." He said standing up to look at her.

"So?" she asked, confused at both his statement and the way he was treating her.

"So, your skin is getting irritated, and it won't be good if it turns into a rash. Come on, I'll change them." Sakura stared at him in shock as he went into her tent where the bandages were held.

"I can do it myself you know." She said to his back. "I mean, I don't want to trouble you." Sakura mumbled the last part, but was surprised to find that he turned back towards her.

"It's the least I can do since you saved me." She nodded and followed him into the tent.

Once inside, the awkward atmosphere only got worse.

"Umm," Syaoran started. "I-I-I'm going to need you to take off your shirt." Sakura gasped and blushed, but turned and complied.

This was the most skin he'd ever seen on a woman before, and Syaoran's red face proved it. His hands were shaky as he unwrapped the bandages from her torso. The damp bandages came off easily and didn't stick to the stitches, and they both breathed out since the hard part was over.

"I never did thank you for saving me." Syaoran said quietly as he wrapped the new bandage. Sakura gasped at the thought of the Li prince thanking her. Actually thanking her. "Did I hurt you?" he asked in reply to her gasp.

Sakura didn't know what to say, here he was thanking her and asking if he had hurt her in any way.

"No, I'm fine." She said, and he continued his work with a little more gentleness. Sakura smiled. "I didn't save you just to be thanked." She said again.

"Why did you do it?" Syaoran asked. It had been a question on his mind since that night. "All I've done is kidnap you, threaten your life and Daidouji's, take your horse… The list goes on." Sakura pondered his statement.

"Yes, you did all those things, but…" she trailed off. "But you also didn't kill me on the cliff, you didn't take me to your kingdom after you had learned it might be dangerous for me, and… you said that you would protect me." Syaoran's hands paused at the mention of the promise he had made a few days into their trip to Kyoko.

He had been in complete awe over this woman. She could fight, stand up for herself, speak for herself and her companion, the list of wonders about her never stopped. Syaoran didn't go around capturing women, or making them sleep on the dirt, or even walk when a horse was near. In the Li kingdom he was a complete gentleman, the way his father was. But he was having trouble remembering that Kinomoto was a lady, and a princess at that. Not that she was unattractive.

Actually, quite the opposite. Kinomoto Sakura was beautiful. With curves in all the right places, long auburn hair, and bright green eyes. Ah, those eyes that were the windows to her soul. No, it was not her physical appearance that made him forget, but her mannerisms.

To sum it up, Syaoran had never met a girl that could handle herself. Take care of herself.

Open her own door, let alone lift a sword!

Suddenly, Sakura noticed how gentle the Li prince was being, how his fingers were brushing over her skin, and how she liked it.

Syaoran felt the goose bumps travel over Kinomoto's skin where his fingers were touching. It came crashing down on what close proximity they were in, and how she was without a shirt. He looked up and saw the slight blush that now graced her lovely features.

The 18 year old boy felt something stir within him. This girl was something special. He then realized that he had long ago finished wrapping her bandage and became all too aware that his fingers were caressing her skin. His amber eyes stared at his fingers that seemed to have a mind of their own, but he didn't stop. This girl excited him on every level. Her wit amazed him, her innocence was not to be taken likely, and her fighting styles were nothing less than his- this girl was his equal in every way and…he liked it. It turned him on. His nerves focused on how soft her skin was and his eyes met her green ones. She looked back with eyes full of confusion.

It was too soon.

Too soon for what? His mind fought, and he growled internally. Too soon for everything! For liking the way her skin felt, for her to get this response from him, for these emotions so be surfacing.

His hands dropped to his sides with inner defeat.

"I-I'm gonna go finish cooking." He said, got up and left the tent.

Sakura just sat there for a moment after the Li prince left, confusion filling every fiber of her being. What had just transpired? What had happened between the two of them?

Nothing happened or ever will happen between the two of you! Her mind shouted obviously. But if it was obvious, then what had just happened?

There had been a tenderness in his eyes, almost a…longing. But for what? Sakura was brought out of her musings when she heard Tomoyo's voice filter through the camp.

"We're back!" she yelled. Sakura threw her shirt over her head and tried to rid herself of the thoughts in her head, and ignore what had just happened…or didn't happen, between her and the enemy prince to be sorted out at another time.

.

It turns out that Tomoyo and Eriol had had a wonderful time in town, and had splurged and gotten enough food and provisions to last the rest of the trip if not longer. Tomoyo had also gotten some more cloth for Sakura as promised and started sewing a new shirt for her princess later on that very night. By the time they had reached the outskirts of another small town a few days later, a new shirt had been sewn for Sakura. She was now back to being dressed in all red, the color of her Kingdom and with no trace of green.

Syaoran was poking at the dying fire when a green cloth appeared in front of his face. He looked up to see Sakura holding out the shirt of his she had worn for the past week.

"Thank you for letting me use it," she said. "I washed it for you." Syaoran stared at her for a few seconds, before remembering to take the shirt from her. He would be sad to not have her wear it anymore, the green of his Kingdom brought out her eyes. He noticed the silence that still hung between him and he grunted a thank you. It was their longest conversation since the tent incident.

What incident? His mind screamed as she nodded and walked away. Nothing happened!

But something had happened, she had stirred something within him that did not want to go away, yet he didn't know how to bring it out either.

.

Ronin

Ronin had had a dark feeling in his heart ever since he had accidentally wandered into a thieves camp a few days before. At first he had been worried they would attack him, as thieves usually do, but their leader had practically pleaded with him to just continue on his way. Ronin noticed the look him the leader's eyes and had had the audacity to ask him what had happened. Another bandit had piped up and told him about the strange group of four travelers who had ripped their group apart when they had tried to attack them in their sleep. The leader said they had managed to "get one of them" before they were made to retreat, losing men.

Ronin had paled at this information. What did the leader mean when he said he "got one of them?" Did someone die? Could it have been his Princess?

Though the thieves were mourning their losses, to pester them much more would have been suicide, so he had been forced to ride on in seek of more information. He was currently in an Inn in the town of Oleander, asking around for a group of four travelers. After leaving Melin he had thought their group to only be of three, Lady Daidouji, Prince Li and Sakura herself, but after finding no information on them, he had concluded that there was another in their group. He had thought it odd that only one person could detain his Princess alone, even if it was the heir to the Li Clan.

After leaving the Inn, Ronin went to the nearby market to get some supplies for the rest of his trip. Who knew when the next time he would stop was for he had to catch up with the Princess.

As he was paying, the Knight asked the owner if he had seen a group of four travelers heading North.

The owner shook his head no.

Ronin added that they might be garbed in red and green.

The old man still shook his head in a negative.

"However," the owner said before Ronin could leave. "Red cloth…red cloth…" he mumbled to himself, trying to recall something. "A fair skinned woman with dark hair came in here about two days ago, asking for supplies and a cut of red fabric. But she was only with another man, not three other companions."

Ronin's first thought was that the lady was Tomoyo, but what was she doing with a man? And without Sakura? Well, if it was her, then they were already a two days ride ahead of him. They would surely get to Kyoko before him, but he had to know if Sakura was still alive. She had to be!

.

The Gang

The next morning, Eriol had announced that Kyoko was only a two days ride away.

"The terrain will stay roughly the same, we'll be traveling through the forest, so we can keep a good pace. The only obstacle is the Cemeron River, we'll need to cross it, probably early in our trek tomorrow morning." He said, looking over his map. The group nodded in understanding, but each of them had mixed emotions about reaching Kyoko.

"Prince Li," Tomoyo asked. "What will happen when we get to Kyoko?"

Li sighed and ran a hand through is hair. When they had started this journey, many things had been different. The Kinomoto princess had been his enemy, he had hated her for the fact that their countries were at war. The plan had been to kidnap her and hold her for random and a treaty to halt the war.

Syaoran looked up and caught the eyes of the princess. Yes, things had changed. He no longer hated her, in fact he was worried he was starting to develop feelings for her. Who was he kidding! Those feelings had already developed and because of that he didn't know what to do.

"I know what we're gonna do." Sakura said. Syaoran looked up at her. "We are going to put an end to this war. Syaoran," she turned to him, her voice passionate. "We are the new generation of our kingdoms. At first, when we first met I hated you. Hated you just from the sight of your green uniform. But now, after many weeks of traveling with you I've gotten to know you, Prince of Li, and I know that I want to make peace with you." She looked deep into his eyes, and he realized that she wasn't just talking about their kingdoms, she was talking about the two of them as well. She blushed and looked away, but continued. "Our parents can't see past the hatred between green and red, so it's up to us. Li Syaoran, I would like to negotiate a peace treaty when we arrive in Kyoko."

Syaoran breathed. She had said it. She didn't want to fight with him anymore. He held out his hand to her.

"On behalf of my family, I accept." Sakura smirked.

"Probably the only one too." She said, shaking his hand. "Li."

"Kinomoto." He nodded. They stared into each other's eyes with determination, and a little of something else, hope.

Eriol and Tomoyo smiled from the sidelines, watching their respective monarchs with awe.

"I'm so happy!" Tomoyo cried and launched herself uncharacteristically into Eriol's arms. She looked up smiling, but then realized what she had done and quickly pulled away, but Eriol's strong arms stopped her from getting too far.

"It's quite alright milady. I think I've been wanting you like this for a long time now," he said and bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek. Tomoyo gasped and reached to touch where he had kissed her.

Nothing like this ever happened to her. Daidouji Tomoyo was not a common name. Her father had died when she was small, giving the land and fortune to her mother, who was Sakura's mother's cousin. She had grown up around the Princess, Sakura, because of that fact, thought aside from that nothing special had ever happened to her. Which suited her just fine, because it let her have more time to focus on her best friend.

But since arriving earlier that month to the Kinomoto palace, she had run away in the dark of night, kidnapped by enemy soldiers, almost attacked by bandits, and was now being kissed by a boy. Well, a man. She was finally getting a chance to really live.

Sakura and Syaoran watched the scene between their two best friends, each feeling a mixture of shock, happiness and perhaps jealousy.

That was when they both realized they were still holding hands. They quickly turned away, their faces red.

"I-I'm gonna go pack up camp," Syaoran stuttered.

"Sounds good," Sakura agreed and they walked away in opposite directions.

.

Sakura woke up the next morning with mixed emotions. When she pulled aside the cloth door of her and Tomoyo's shared tent the sky was still dark, the sun not having risen. Yet despite the lack of sun, Sakura was wide awake, inner turmoil keeping her from sleeping.

She was happy for Tomoyo.

Elated that she was doing something to stop the war from ravaging more country side and killing more soldiers- the main reason she had left home in the first place.

She was home sick, after all she had been away from her family and familiar comforts for almost a month now.

But above all, she had the most emotion about the Li Prince. So much emotion in fact, that she didn't know just what to think of him.

Training with the knights of Kinomoto had put her on a schedule of waking early for sparring, a schedule that she had failed at recently. So Sakura decided to put her newly healed wound to the test, and see how rusty she had gotten.

And that's where Syaoran found her an hour later. The young Li prince had also had trouble sleeping that night, so after lying wide awake on his sleeping roll, he finally got up when the first light of sun started to peak through his tent, and heard the sounds of Sakura's training further into the woods. Syaoran followed the grunts, heavy breathing and other noises of the Princess, to find her practicing kicks and punches. He made sure to be silent as he watched her.

It was obvious she hadn't gone through the movements lately- though he couldn't blame her in the least. First he had captured her, then she had been injured- there had been no room for practice. He could also tell that her side was still stiff where she had been injured, as her moves that stretched that area of her body weren't as fluid and flexible. Syaoran was moving in quietly, entranced as he watched her. It wasn't until he was within an arm's length to her turned back when he noticed where he was.

So did she.

With a lightening quick spin her right arm was going for his cheek, but he reacted fast enough to block her strong hit. After the move had been made her eyes widened in recognition and she pulled back.

"Li! I'm so sorry, I couldn't tell that it was you! You shouldn't sneak up on people-"

"Do you need a sparring partner?" he asked, cutting her off. She looked at him puzzled.

"What?" Syaoran mentally winced at her words. He hadn't meant to say it, or maybe he did, but now…

"Do you need someone to spar with? I haven't practiced in awhile either." He was speaking again! It was like his mind wasn't catching up with his mouth, but again, the words had been said. Sakura looked a little apprehensive, but then set her eyes in determination.

"Alright, hand to hand combat?" she said. Syaoran nodded, and made a mental note about her wound. They each took a moment to get ready; Sakura tying up her hair and Syaoran taking a few layers of clothes off, and both stretching their muscles. The nights in the northern territories were cold.

After making sure the other was set, they stood facing each other and bowed to begin. Though Sakura was already warmed up, she was already tired from her sessions alone that morning. Syaoran could see the sweat on her face as she moved into a solid fighting stance. He mirrored her actions, then came at her.

First he went for her legs, swinging his own legs underneath her, trying to catch her off balance. She dodged, jumping into the air and then came down with the same move. He also dodged, jumping backwards out of the way. He barely had time for his feet to touch the ground when he was forced to block a kick of hers. Crossing his arms in front of his stomach, he blocked her kick to his stomach just in time, effectively pushing her backwards. She didn't stumble, and was ready for him when he came flying at her with a well aimed punch. She dodged again, back hand-springing out of the way. Syaoran didn't fail to notice how she flinched and gripped her side after the move. But he didn't have time to comment as she came at him. They both threw punches and kicks, each landing a few, but not out to kill. Sakura suddenly saw and opening in Syaoran's defenses and landed a kick to his abdomen, effectively landing him on his back. As she was going to finish him off, he surprised her, flipping her over himself she so she was now lying on her own back. Growling at her mistake, the Kinomoto Princess threw herself on top of Syaoran in a strong locked position. Or so she thought, until he rolled her over so that their positions were switched. The sound of their heavy breathing was all that was heard as they slowly, but surely, realized how close to each other they really were.

Sakura looked up at Li's amber eyes, wide with apprehension, but darkened with a sense of longing. She then made the mistake of glancing at his lips, slightly parted while still breathing hard from the fight, and licked her own.

Syaoran noticed their arrangement right away, and if his mind didn't, his body sure did. God, she was so close! The prince didn't fail to notice how her body fit with his, or how her eyes looked up into his, with expectation. His mind was already made up, but when he saw her eyes flicker to his mouth, Syaoran dipped his head to hers, their lips coming together.

Syaoran was surprised when there was no hesitation from the Princess underneath him, and he closed his eyes and enjoyed the sweet taste of her lips.

It was a light kiss, uncertainty of both their accounts, a silent questioning of acceptance.

It was a tender kiss, the complete opposite of what they're sparring had just conveyed moments before.

The deep, ignored, feelings they had both felt for the past few days lingered behind the kiss, and Syaoran only broke away when both needed air. He pulled away slowly, looking into Sakura's eyes for acceptance, but her eyes remained closed, an unreadable expression on her face. Syaoran understood the look as the world slowly came crashing down on him once more. Their countries at war, he had just kissed the Li Clan's enemy. Sakura's eyes opened up and he finally found his acceptance, but it was mixed with confusion and pause. Syaoran slowly got up from his position, and stood over the Princess, who was still dazed. His hands made a fist as he looked down at her.

"I'm sorry." He said and walked away.

Sakura just lied there, staring at the spot where Li just stood thinking of what transpired. He had just kissed her. He had had her pinned with nowhere to go and kissed her. It was all him- and she had responded. And she liked it. Sakura sat up, watching the prince's back fade into the woods towards camp, and touched her lips, the feel of the kiss still lingering.

"Syaoran…" she whispered.

.

Sakura headed back to camp a little while later to find that everyone was up and around a small fire. Tomoyo was cooking breakfast, a smile on her face and a certain blue haired Duke close by her side, and Li was staring into the fire. As she came into view, he glanced up at her, and she returned a coy smile and was amused when he looked shocked. Breakfast was eaten quickly; the excitement that they would be at their destination in a day's time and the silence between the two monarchs helped speed things along.

Tomoyo and Eriol looked at each other, completely clueless. Tomoyo had woken up in the morning to find that both her princess and the Li prince were missing and didn't think to worry until Li had come back with an unreadable look on his face and promptly sat in front of the fire seemingly in deep concentration. On top of that, Sakura had been awfully quiet that morning, but Tomoyo, as observant as ever, noticed that she had a slight blush tingeing her face as well.

What could have happened?

When everyone had eaten, and the horses were loaded, Eriol pulled out his map once more.

"The Cemeron River is about three miles from here, after that we will leave the forest and enter the Kyoko Plains. The River will be tricky to cross at this time of year." Eriol pointed to the mountains just east of Kyoko. "The runoff from the mountains will have caused the river to flood, so we'll need to be extra careful." Syaoran sighed as Eriol rolled up the map and put it into a pouch on his horse.

"Hopefully the bridge won't be washed out," the prince said and started walking away, a clear indication that Sakura could ride her horse first. Since they only had two horses for four people, Sakura, Eriol and Syaoran all took turns walking, scouting ahead and riding- Tomoyo always got to ride and would usually double up with either Sakura or Eriol.

Syaoran walked slightly ahead of the group so that he could have time to think about what had happened this morning.

"I can't believe I kissed her," he grumbled, kicking a pebble that was on the road. The scene kept replaying over in his head, the feel of her lips on his completely taking over his thoughts. What did she mean to him? Was she the princess of his enemy? Was she the key to ending the war? Was she working her way into his heart as no one had before? Syaoran pictured the way her emerald eyes had revealed themselves to him after their kiss, and his stomach did summersaults. No, she was more to him than just another princess. She was his princess. His…

"Syaoran!" a voice yelled, cutting off his thoughts. He looked back to see his three companions standing at a fork in the road. "It's this way," Eriol said, pointing to the path Syaoran didn't take. Syaoran shook his head, he had been thinking so hard he hadn't even realized that the path diverged. That girl was just trouble for him. Soon they would arrive in Kyoko, discuss diplomacy and she'll go back to her country and out of his life. But did he want her gone from his life? His mind told him no, but something else within him disagreed.

.

Melin

The carriage went over another bump, making Melin wake up from her small nap. Looking around she stiffened, forgetting where she was for a moment. But Queen Yelan's face came into view seated across from her and Melin remembered what had happened. Of course, they were going to Kyoto to confront Syaoran and his captive. Melin looked out the window, judging from the surroundings they were only a two days ride to the palace. How would Yelan react to the Kinomoto princess's presence? What would she do to her own son?

Melin should have been overjoyed to see her fiancé again, but under these conditions, she would've been willing to turn the carriage around.

.

.

**A/N**: What will happen when they reach Kyoko? What will Yelan have in store for the duo? What will happen in general? Read and review and find out next time!


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